{"id":191210,"date":"2024-06-20T09:31:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/06\/20\/empower-cocoa-farmers-to-seek-markets-independently-nii-moi-thompson\/"},"modified":"2024-06-20T09:31:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T09:31:07","slug":"empower-cocoa-farmers-to-seek-markets-independently-nii-moi-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/06\/20\/empower-cocoa-farmers-to-seek-markets-independently-nii-moi-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Empower cocoa farmers to seek markets independently \u2013 Nii Moi Thompson \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, a renowned economist, is advocating for a restructuring of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He suggests that COCOBOD\u2019s direct involvement with cocoa farmers should be discontinued, allowing farmers to independently seek out markets to sell their cocoa beans, thereby promoting greater autonomy and profitability for the farmers.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview on\u00a0<strong><em>Channel One TV<\/em><\/strong>\u2018s The Point of View, Dr. Thompson proposed that cocoa farmers should be empowered to sell their produce independently, earning their own revenue, which would then be subject to taxation, similar to other businesses, promoting economic independence and contributions to the nation\u2019s tax base.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my personal view, I think we need to restructure the whole sector [COCOBOD] in such a way that we leave the cocoa farmers alone, get COCOBOD out of the way. Let them [farmers] make their money and pay taxes, like anybody else, who buys what farmers produce? They find markets, let people do that,\u201d he told host Bernard Avle.<\/p>\n<p>The former Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) emphasised that Ghana should diversify its economy by developing other sectors, reducing its heavy reliance on cocoa, and shifting its focus away from the cocoa industry to promote more balanced and sustainable economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe issue of standards can all be handled\u2026after 150 years, we should let cocoa go and think of non-cocoa, non-primary commodity sectors\u2026I\u2019m saying leave the cocoa farmers alone, like anybody else, if they need services let them pay for it. There\u2019s so much potential for growing other parts of the economy, let them have their money,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n<p>He expressed dismay that despite centuries of cocoa production, Ghana has failed to achieve $10 billion in annual cocoa exports, questioning the country\u2019s lack of progress in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>He lamented Ghana\u2019s continued reliance on cocoa after nearly 150 years, labelling it a \u201cshame\u201d and a sign of the country\u2019s failure to diversify its economy and achieve meaningful economic development<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first one is the shame of a country like Ghana still depending on cocoa, as a core element of its development strategy after almost 150 years, since it was introduced. We shouldn\u2019t be talking about cocoa, by now we should be talking about the industry, high-tech and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCocoa now constitutes just 2% of GDP, and your national development strategy is based on a sector that makes up less than 2% of your GDP.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cFor a country like Ghana that is growing, the average that we get for cocoa loans is $1.5 billion the highest I have seen is $2 billion, what is that for a population of 31 million? We depended on it so much. In the past, even our budget cycle was structured around when cocoa-syndicated loans were coming in, and they are insignificant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy now, we should be doing about $10 billion through some exports- value-added, we call them strategic exports in the 40-year national development plan. In fact, we are talking about cocoa as a basis for economic strategy. It reflects a lack of vision on our part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>source:citinewsroom.com<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, a renowned economist, is advocating for a restructuring of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). He suggests that COCOBOD\u2019s direct involvement with cocoa farmers should be discontinued, allowing farmers to independently seek out markets to sell their cocoa beans, thereby promoting greater autonomy and profitability for the farmers. In an interview on\u00a0Channel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Empower cocoa farmers to seek markets independently \u2013 Nii Moi Thompson \u2013 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/06\/20\/empower-cocoa-farmers-to-seek-markets-independently-nii-moi-thompson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empower cocoa farmers to seek markets independently \u2013 Nii Moi Thompson \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, a renowned economist, is advocating for a restructuring of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD). 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