Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world but its citizens can barely afford its finished products such as chocolate but the state has been consistent in paying special attention to the sector.
Citizens are encouraging the government to take a great interest in investing in locally grown food crops since the country depends significantly on food imports, which usually results in high food inflation.
Cocoa, which has a dedicated state institution, is one of Ghana’s leading export commodities and therefore attracts investment from the state, unlike other crops such as yams, rice, maize, cassava, plantains, millet etc. But as a crop that has very little to do with food consumption in the country, social commentator and farmer, Kojo Akoto Boateng believes that Ghana is developing other economies instead of producing foods that will be locally consumed and create jobs in the country.
He made the comment on Facebook following the COCOBOARD announcement to cultivate 1.9 million hectares of cocoa in Ghana.
A National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, which was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2020, was devised by COCOBOD to curtail the rapid spread of Cocoa Swollen Shoot Viral Disease (CSSVD) on cocoa farms.
The initiative resulted in a two-year-long rehabilitation of hundreds of acres CSSVD infected farms, under the COCOBOD, and Government funded Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme.
But is cocoa farming the only aspect of agricultural sector suffering from low yield? This is where Kojo Akoto Boateng believes that the state should prioritise investments in crops that are locally consumed by support farmers.
Read the full post below.
It is estimated that about 1.9m hectares of land is under cultivation for cocoa in Ghana.
This fetches us about $2 billion a year.
We have an estimated 23m hectares of land in Ghana.
Cocoa alone takes about 8% of our total land area and what do we get?
If we used the same land to cultivate the things we actually needed in this country, we could get close to our food sufficiency and reduce food imports.
Why dedicate so much land to feed other economies? These economies will do everything they can to undercut, undermine us and leave us impoverished.
We have focused on cocoa enough. Let’s slow down and look elsewhere. Let’s pay attention to the food we need locally, and reduce our food import bill.
Let us have mix that will put fufuo, banku, ampesie, omotuo, TZ, atsiekeh, tubani, gobɛ, pito, palmwine, akpeteshie, zonkomi, nuunu, wagashie, mpotompoto, akple, chicken, beef, mutton, akonfem, aponkye kɔkɔɔ, joseph, prince charles, akrantie, one man thousand, etc on our tables, instead of burgers, whiskey, and all the other koomininis.
No smart country commits almost 10% of their land to produce something they have no control of except the corruption within.
Let’s follow the light.
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