Staff of Olam Ghana with Omanhene of Wasa Amenfi Traditional Area – Nana Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II (middle) displaying the cheque
Olam Ghana, a leading supply chain manager of agric-products, has announced the payment of GH¢4 million in premiums to cocoa farmers for the 2015/2016 season.
The amount represents a 100 percent increase over the total premium of GH¢1.9 million paid to farmers last year.
The announcement was made at a cocoa farmers’ durbar at Mumuni, near Samreboi in the Amenfi West District of the Western Region, which attracted over 1,000 cocoa farmers from all the cocoa growing regions in the country.
This season’s premiums will be distributed to some 12,000 farmers across the country, each of whom would receive GH₡15 as bonus on each bag of cocoa sold to the company.
Premium payment
The premiums, popularly known as bonuses, are paid to deserving farmers for selling certified cocoa beans to the company based on premium grading by cocoa buyers on the international market.
General Manager of Olam’s cocoa Licensed Buying Company (LBC) business, Eric Asare Botwe, who announced the season’s premium payment, commended the farmers for their hard work during the season and urged them to continue to focus on improving not just the quantity but quality of the cocoa they produce.
He said Olam is committed to putting in place the right measures to ensure an increase in production of premium cocoa, adding that it would work to improve the lives of all farmers in Olam’s operational areas.
Mr Botwe disclosed that this year, Olam has voted $1 million (GH¢4 million) as interest-free loans to cocoa farmers to enable them to procure farm inputs and satisfy other needs.
He said the initiative formed part of Olam’s efforts to help improve the standard of living of farmers.
The Wassa Amenfi Educational Fund, which would provide an amount of GH¢40,000 as seed capital to support the development of education in the area, was also launched at the event.
Under the Fund, Olam Ghana would adopt a school in the Wassa Amenfi area and develop it into a model school to meet the standards of schools in urban areas of the country.
Mr. Botwe disclosed further that Needs Assessment Team was conducting feasibility studies under the initiative.