A Business Management Consultant, Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, says the government must invest massively in the cocoa growing areas to improve social amenities there.
Opening up the cocoa growing communities with electricity, good roads, schools and potable water, he said would encourage farmers to produce more and attract the youth and investors to the cocoa growing communities.
Speaking to The Ghanaian Times on Monday ahead of the launch of his book on the cocoa industry, Dr Ofosu-Asare said many cocoa producing communities lacked access to electricity, good roads, schools, clinics and potable water.
The book titled Ghana’s Cocoa Industry: The Role of the State, will be launched today by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
Dr Ofosu-Asare said though government was working to improve amenities in the cocoa growing communities, evidence from his book indicated that the effort of government “is not enough.”
He said poor social amenities in the cocoa growing areas were discouraging cocoa farmers from expanding their production and driving the youth away from those communities.
According to Dr Ofosu-Asare, a major finding of the book was that farmers in the cocoa industry were aging with more than 66 per cent of the farmers above 60 years, a situation which put the cocoa industry under threat of collapse.
Thus, he said, there was the need to attract the youth into cocoa farming to ensure the survival of the cocoa industry.
Dr Ofosu-Asare said with the introduction of the free Senior High School programme, the government must use the revenues it were using to finance the Cocoa Scholarship programme to fund social amenities in the cocoa growing communities.
Dr Ofosu-Asare also suggested that the Licensed Cocoa-buying Companies (LCDs) must be encouraged to provide social amenities in some of the cocoa growing communities to lift the burden off the government.
He said an LCD which invested in a social amenity should be allowed to purchase 80 per cent of cocoa produced in that community.
Dr Ofosu-Asare said another major finding of his book which would be of interest to policy makers was that cocoa farmers did not see the annual increase prices as a motivating factor.
“Rather, they see the increase plus things like mass spraying, surplus of fertiliser, supply of seedlings, payment of bonuses, all combined with the annual increase as a motivating factor,” Dr Ofosu-Asare stated.
Asked of the impact of galamsey on the cocoa industry, the business management consultant said “At the time of carrying out my study, the galamsey issue had not heightened up to the level we find it at the moment.”
“But then I did mention that if care was not taken at that time, the galamsey activities could seriously affect cocoa farming and eventually the output. So with what is going on, I think that is why the role of the state is important,” he stated.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
