Take Advantage Of Hike In Farm Gate Cocoa Price To Stop Smuggling Of The Commodity To Neighbouring Countries—Nkosuhenene Of Anwomaso
The chief said the smuggling of cocoa across the borders of the country, still remained as one of the challenges confronting cocoa production, therefore the rally to educate them against the practice and empower them to produce more commodity since there is the current announcement in the hike of farm gate cocoa price in the country.
Freeman Koryekpor 
The Nkosuhenene of Anwomaso in the Ashanti Region, Nana Kwaku Siaw, has called on the farmers in the cocoa growing areas to take advantage of the current increment of the farm gate cocoa price to stop smuggling of the commodity to neighbouring countries to the detriment of the nation.
The chief said the smuggling of cocoa across the borders of the country, still remained as one of the challenges confronting cocoa production, therefore the rally to educate them against the practice and empower them to produce more commodity since there is the current announcement in the hike of farm gate cocoa price in the country.
Mincing no words, the traditional ruler cautioned the farmers, particularly the cocoa growing farmers to desist their continuous habit from the practice of selling their cocoa farmlands for illegal small scale mining [galamsey] activities since the government has now increased the price of cocoa commodity.
Nana Kwaku Siaw noted with concern how some traditional and community leaders were neck deep in facilitating the selling out of cocoa farmlands for galamsey activities without the consent of some of the farmers due to land tenure systems.
The chief bemoaned how galamsey activities continued to destroy cocoa farms in many of the cocoa farming communities.
The situation, he observed, had compelled innocent farmers who were not ready to give out their farmlands for galamsey activities to do so due to the rippling effects of galamsey on adjoining cocoa farms.
Speaking in an interview with Soireenews. com via telephone, Nana Kwaku Siaw applauded the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for increment in cocoa price.
He said this development can, however, check the alarming illegal mining activities in the country.
He said this development can, however, check the alarming illegal mining activities in the country.
While commending the government for its support of poor farmers, Nana Kwaku Siaw, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kuma farms, suggested building warehouses to store perishable goods.
Nana grasped the chance to plead with individual stakeholders to aid in the fight against illegal mining, which has caused harm to most of the farmlands.
He called on assembly members in cocoa growing areas, to form vigilante groups to monitor and prevent cocoa smugglers from their nefarious activities, which had over the years affected the cocoa production of the country, and must be stopped.
The chief rally educated cocoa farmers on effects of smuggling of cocoa on the economy, and the need to stop the negative practice as well as imparted knowledge to farmers on best cocoa farming practices to ensure maximum yield.
According to him, it was important for cocoa farmers to appreciate the fact that the government had invested much in the cocoa farming sector particularly in the provision of farm inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and construction of cocoa roads to aid transportation of the produce to marketing centres.
“The government has really done well for the increment in the cocoa price. We least expected this and we need to acknowledge the government for that. I will plead with the farmers to endeavour to prevent galamsey activities on their farmlands,” he stated.
Nana Kwaku Siaw added” One major challenge is storage facilities, so I will entreat the government to construct a warehouse to store food items for future use in order to help prevent poverty in the country.”
He said the "government should not forget that because it has increased the farm gate cocoa price, it is not going to support the cocoa farmers with the provision of fertilizers as well as support farmers to spray their cocoa farms with insecticides again."
"Because all over the world whenever there are farmers or agriculture activities, all agricultural input subsidies for the farmers by the central government. Because if they subsidy the price of the agricultural input for the farmers, it would not benefit only the farmers but it would go along way to benefit people in the country," the chief stated.
"Because the farmers are feeding the people of the nation of what they have grown. When you go to the French speaking countries, you can see that their foodstuffs have lasted for the long time because they never imported any agricultural products, seedlings from the outside their counties like what we the farmers are doing here in Ghana," the chief stated.
He stressed that: "we can do same in Ghana here if the government is willing to support the peasant farmers to grow their farm products because we also have very fertile lands in the country," the traditional rulers stated.
He stressed the need for government to have the control price for other foodstuffs of the farmers, saying it seems that it is cocoa commodity that the government was interested to increase the price.
