Mpohor cocoa farmers in need of warehouse

Cocoa farmers in the Mpohor District on Tuesday called on COCOBOD and other stakeholders to provide them with a ware house to store their beans before transporting it to the market.

The farmers said for some time now dried cocoa beans was left at the mercy of the weather or at very congested store houses.

Papa Kofi Paintsil, Chairman of Amankese Boafoyene Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Limited, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the provision of warehouses would go a long way to cut production cost.

The statement said: It will allow resources used in transporting our produce to be ploughed back into production as well as provide substantial revenue to farmers.

The lack of storage facilities continued to hamper proper storage methodology as well as leaving the cocoa beans at the vagaries of the weather resulting in huge losses during the rainy season.

The statement said transporting the beans to nearby villages for storage was expensive and, thereby, affecting the income of the farmers. In spite of our high level of production, the quality of cocoa beans produced is almost always compromised resulting in the rejection of our beans," the statement said.

On the other hand, the association lauded the contribution of the Business Advocacy Challenge Fund which was advocating the construction of cocoa shed in the area and called on the district assembly to support.

According to the statement, the construction of a ware house in the area had the potential to boost the local economy, reduce unemployment and poverty rate.