The NPP flagbearer expressed the concern in a statement he issued regarding the performance of cocoa farmers in the just-ended harvest season.
Delving into specifics, he mentioned that school building projects, some of which required just tiling or wiring to be ready for the new academic year, were cancelled.
Continuing, he noted that the affordable housing project started by the NPP, involving thousands of housing units across regions, a majority of which are nearing completion, has been abandoned by the Mills administration.
‘We are, nevertheless, glad to note that 15 months after the President, in his 2010 State of the Nation Address, directed the Ministry of Water Resources, Works & Housing ‘to complete all those housing projects’ started by the NPP, to help alleviate the ‘acute housing problem facing the country’, just last week, Government announced its intention to do so.
We hope that Government will deliver on this promise this time.’
On abandoned road projects initiated by the NPP government and strewn across the country, including major commercial routes such as Achimota-Ofankor road, Nsawam-Suhum road, Madina-Pantang road and the Sofoline interchange, among others, he stated, ‘They have all suffered from lack of funding under the NDC. The cost of this de-prioritisation of priority projects to the Ghanaian economy and to commuters should jolt us to focus on getting them done.’ He added, ‘This negative governance behaviour must not be encouraged and I urge Government to reconsider its position on such projects.’
Against the backdrop of the foregone, he asked the membership of the NPP to join hands with their leadership so that ‘we can together work intelligently and courageously to deliver Ghanaians onto the path of a brighter and exciting future’.
He described his recent all-hands-on deck mission as a response to duty, adding it was a successful exercise.
Expressing his stance on this year’s cocoa harvest which industry sources put at between 850,000 and 900,000 metric tons, he noted that while this falls short of the New Patriotic Party’s anticipated target of one million tons by this time, ‘it is, indeed, welcome news and a manifest justification to why a new government must continue with good policies that it inherits’.
He saluted cocoa farmers on behalf of the NPP, stating, ‘We congratulate every one of you, as you continue to hold the fortunes of our nation in your productive hands.’
Majority of farmers, because of their inability to obtain adequate reward for their efforts, must benefit from a transformed and modernised agriculture
It is a known fact that the majority of our farmers, generally, do not get adequate reward for their efforts. Thus, the transformation and modernisation of our agriculture to enhance productivity, add value to our produce, guarantee food security and become a major exporter of foods and raise the incomes of our farming communities are the vital issues of our time he noted should be a policy priority.
What he described as a success story in our cocoa industry is attributable to ‘a consistency of active and dedicated participation of government. In the era of the New Patriotic Party, cocoa production was doubled from 389,590 metric tons at the end of 2000 to a peak of over 750,000 metric tons in 2006/2007 for the same land area under cultivation.’
He pointed with relish initiatives such as the free mass cocoa spraying exercise and the application of subsidised fertilisers as contributory factors of today’s success story chalked in the cocoa industry.
‘Their efforts were also rewarded with a four-fold increase in producer prices, boosting cocoa farmers’ income to a level not seen since the 1950s. The price paid to farmers for a 64 kg bag of cocoa at the end of the 2000 season was GH¢21.7 (¢217,187.5). The price for the 2008 season was GH¢102 (¢1,020,000), representing a 370% increase over the 2000 figure,’ he added.
The NPP’s plan to enhance the quality of life for the nation’s cocoa farmers and their families, he stressed, ‘also resulted in the provision of additional incentives such as free mosquito nets, solar lamps and bulbs’.
The decision by the National Democratic Congress government to continue with these support services introduced by its predecessor for cocoa farmers, Nana Akufo Addo stated, ‘must be commended. It is the right way to go as a country’.
Nana Akufo Addo added that ‘President Kufuor appointed the current head of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Anthony Fofie, on December 16 2008, and the benefits of not ‘removing’ him, as a result of a change in government, are now evident for Ghanaians to see.’
The NPP, in its 2008 Manifesto, promised to introduce a pension scheme for cocoa farmers and farm workers, he pointed out, adding, ‘On 19th May 2011, the COCOBOD said it was on the verge of establishing the first ever Pension Scheme for cocoa farmers to ensure that they do not suffer when they retire from active farming. Once again, the benefits resulting from embracing good and productive policies, regardless of where it emanates from, are being realised.’
By A.R. Gomda
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