The Minority in Parliament has criticised the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for stating that the producer price of cocoa for the 2017/2018 cocoa season would not be increased and that there would not be payment of bonuses to cocoa farmers this year.

It asked COCOBOD to draw on the Cocoa Stabilisation Fund to cushion cocoa farmers following the fall in the price of cocoa on the world market.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Minority Spokesperson on Food and Agriculture and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Mr Eric Opoku, threatened to pursue a legal action to compel COCOBOD to use the fund to cushion cocoa farmers.

He said the Minority would also file a question on the stabilisation fund for the Minister of Food and Agriculture to come to the floor of Parliament to answer.

"Since the money was kept for them, if the government fails, we are going to use all possible means including legal to ensure that the money is used for its purpose.

"We are going to employ all possible means within the democratic framework to make sure that the right thing is done," he said.

Stabilisation Fund Mr Opoku said former President John Dramani Mahama established the Stabilisation Fund in 2014 to cushion farmers whenever the international price of cocoa fell.

He said since the establishment of the fund, the country had not experienced that fall in producer price of cocoa to warrant supporting cocoa farmers from it.

Mr Opoku said now that cocoa price had fallen on the world market, the government must draw on the fund to cushion cocoa farmers in terms of keeping the prices up and giving them bonuses.

"So today, the price has come down. We want to draw the attention of the new CEO of COCOBOD that the Stabilisation Fund exists. So he should draw on that fund to support the farmers, to put smiles on the faces of our hardworking farmers and stop sending signals that the farmers are not going to get this and that as if the farmers were going to be punished for the falling prices on the world market," he said.

Details of the fund

Mr Opoku urged COCOBOD to disclose to Ghanaians how much had been accumulated in the fund and how it intended to use it.

"It may interest the public to know how much we accumulated in the fund. So the CEO must come and tell us how much was accumulated in the fund and how that money can be used to impact the lives of cocoa farmers because the money is being kept for them," he said.

Source:graphic.com.gh