Cocoa And Foodstuffs Locked Up

Cocoa and some foodstuffs are said to have been locked up in the northern part of the Western Region as a result of heavy rains which have rendered some of the roads in the area impassable. In some of the cocoa-growing communities, farmers have been compelled by the circumstance to carry their food crops, cocoa and other items on their heads and travel miles to the buying centres, where their produce could be purchased. The worst affected districts are the Aowin-Suaman, Wassa Amenfi West and Central, Jomoro, Bogoso-Prestea, Tarkwa and Ellembelle. In the case of Mumuni Camp, which has been cut off from the rest of the Western Region, the farmers sometimes throw away their cocoa beans because they go bad. According to the people, a fertilizer company has promised to build a warehouse for them, but cocoa clerks are not ready to go there because the main feeder road to the town has been reduced to a footpath after the rain.�We do not have access to potable water and other Social Amenities. In actual fact we are completely cut off from the rest of the country due to the nature of the road,� one Openyi Karle said. A visit to those cocoa-growing communities by the Daily Graphic revealed that some communities had to rely on rickety trucks to travel to Elubo and Tarkwa before connecting to Takoradi and Accra. When contacted, the Chief Executive for Aowin-Suaman, Mr Oscar Ofori Larbi, said he was not happy about the transportation difficulties confronting the people in the area.The situation in the Wassa Amenfi West and Central district was not different from that of Aowin-Suaman.