The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has registered his disgust over comments by former President Mahama that cocoa farmers have been rendered poor since he left office.

According to Mr. Antwi-Boasiako, the comment by the former President is not only distasteful, but also a gross disrespect to cocoa farmers.

In an interview with Peacefmonline the NPP Chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, intimated that cocoa production witnessed a massive decline under the NDC despite the good measures the NPP under former President Kufour, handed over to them.

"As a result of the interventions former President Kufuor introduced, the late former President Mills' administration benefited and was able to increase cocoa production. But the incompetent Mahama took over and recorded 740,000 tonnes of cocoa production. This was a decline from the one million achieved by Prof. Mills” he stated.

He continued that President Akufo-Addo is picking up from where former President Kufour left and the records continue to show that "cocoa production get higher when the NPP is in government".

Chairman Wontumi noted that the disrespect shown to cocoa farmers by Mr. Mahama is ready going to cost him in the 2020 elections. "We'll mobilize them to vote against you", he said.

Former President Mahama in an address to a crowd at Obeng Krom in the Ahafo region as part of his ‘Speak Out’ tour Tuesday, accused the NPP government of “shortchanging” Ghanaian farmers with its policies.

He stated that he was shocked at how farmers were being treated under the NPP government, saying cocoa farmers had become poorer than when he was in power.

He explained that the sale of fertilizers by the government to the poor farmers had had a toll on farmers, resulting in poor yield in the farms of citizens who were unable to buy adequate quantity of fertilizers.

Source: peacefmonline.com