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The Citizen Watch, one of the leading think tank groups in the country has commended the Nana Akufo-Addo’s government for the swift intervention over the farmgate price for cocoa famers.

The government has agreed to pay US$1820 (GHC9800) per tonne to the Ghanaian cocoa farmers which represents 70 percent of the floor price of US$2,600 for the 2020/2021 crop season.

“This is laudable and we commend the government for its listening ability after we called for the farmgate price to be increased. This response by government over our proposition has not taken too long, however, the action of government has changed the perception or commitment of farmers towards the industry”.

This new farmgate price, we believe would harmonise prices in the cocoa sector and also reduce smuggling of cocoa beans.

This was contained in a statement issued in Accra and signed by Francis Mensah, the Convener of the group.

“We are also calling on the cocoa farmers to adhere to the international standard practices, and also commit their efforts to compliment government efforts, by reducing the rate of smuggling of cocoa beans to other neighbouring countries, since it has the tendency of killing the industry,” the statement said.

The citizen watch said, “cocoa has supported our economy over the years and we must intensify our efforts in this area to sustain our economy, through which we can expand our economy.”

The Citizen Watch has however called on Cocobod to give the needed support for processing of cocoa in the country.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire the two main countries that produce cocoa have agreed on a floor price of US$2,600 per tonne for cocoa beans.

The Citizen Watch recently issued a statement asking the government to increase the farmgate price for cocoa farmers to GHC9000 per ton.

COCOBOD is set to sign its annual cocoa loan syndication deal with some 20 French banks in September 2019.

This was after it secured Parliament’s approval to borrow up to $1.5 billion to aid cocoa purchases for the 2019/2020 crop season.