WCFO supports cocoa floor price policy

The World Cocoa Farmers Organisation (WCFO) has expressed its support to government’s decision for the cocoa floor price pegged at 2,600 dollars per tonne for the 2020/2021.

According to the organisation, the support followed the fact that some of their members duly participated in all deliberations at the meeting that concluded on the floor price.

“This, we believe, is a positive step to start with and look forward for appropriate upward adjustments in the coming years to help achieve our quest for decent living, income and improved livelihood,” the organisation intoned at a press briefing here, on Thursday.

National Coordinator of the organisation, Frank Okyere, at the briefing, urged the government to live to expectation to fulfill its promise of the housing scheme for cocoa farmers.

He further expressed concern about the government’s delay in bringing on board the electronic weighing scales to boost the morale of cocoa farmers.

Mr Okyere advocated policy for the implementation of cocoa farmers’ pension scheme and economic trees ownership on cocoa farms, their documentation and registration.

Among other advocacy issues raised included land tenure for a clear-cut policy that backs rehabilitation or replanting, and the need for policy clarity on input distribution.

Mr Okyere used the occasion to call on members to ignore the misrepresentation on the issue of a former Secretary General of the Organiation, Sako Warren, who by himself in a letter dated November 28, 2018, resigned and called for his replacement at the Chamber of Commerce.

The national coordinator claimed that Mr Warren, “is now conniving with some Cameroonians and a Venezuelan to keep on deceiving partners as though he still holds a position of WCFO, and that his call for Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire to reconsider their decision in the name of WCFO on the cocoa floor price is unwarranted”.

WFCO is an international independent umbrella organisation set up for all cocoa farmers to serve as a common advocacy platform that highlights issues affecting their belief in the adage that “unity is strength”.

The organisation envisions a cocoa value chain where farmers and farm workers are empowered, strengthened and engaged in sustainable cocoa production.

FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI