NDC Gov’t distributed non-tested agro-chemicals to farmers - Akoto Afriyie

The Minority Spokesperson on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has made an allegation against the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government that the latter has imported and distributed to cocoa farmers, agro-chemicals which had not been tested and authorised by the designated research institutions.

He said the move by the ruling government to distribute the agro-chemicals was against the regulations and time-tested practices.

Addressing journalist in Parliament yesterday, on behalf of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Minority Caucus, Dr. Akoto Afriyie lamented that the efficacy of the Chinese imported agro-chemicals was doubtful, and farmers across the country were complaining.

“What is worse, these chemicals are being imported at more than twice the price of their replacement. The massive leakage of imported chemical inputs by smuggling to neighbouring countries (like Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroun, Nigeria, Benin and Niger were mentioned), does not only deny our cocoa farmers the much-needed inputs, thereby reducing yields and production, but also cuts the amount available to pay remunerative prices to cocoa farmers,” he noted.

According to him, cocoa farmers were really suffering, as they hardly got hold of the fertilisers and other chemicals the government had said it was distributing.

He further stated that reports from the cocoa growing areas of Sewfi, Nzema, Ahafo, Brong, Ashanti, Akuapem, Kwahu and Volta indicated that some NDC activists were going round cocoa villages with ‘baseless’ and ‘misleading’ rumours that Nana Akufo-Addo had refused to sign an agreement with the international banks, and that President Mahama rather signed the document.

Dr. Akoto added that because of that ‘alleged’ non-cooperation on the part of Nana Akufo-Addo, as the rumour goes, the government could not offer a much higher producer price than the GH¢475 per bag announced on 1st October, 2016. But “this Ananse story is meant to throw dust into the eyes of our poor cocoa farmers,” he stressed.

Adding that the NDC was attempting to shift blame for the ‘slave-wage’ cocoa prices from themselves (NDC) onto the ‘innocent’ NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

He cited that the low producer price the NDC was paying to cocoa farmers was a direct result of the fact that the gross proceeds from cocoa exports were riddled with fraud and corruption perpetrated by the NDC government.

“The Ghana COCOBOD claims it spent the equivalent of over GH¢838 million in 2015/2016 importing and distributing fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals to cocoa farmers; and another US$150 million on cocoa roads, among others. The figure of GH¢838 million is nearly twice the total Annual Budget Allocation to both the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in the financial year 2016,” he observed

He, however, deemed it ‘important’ for COCOBOD to provide the names and locations of the farmers, and the quantities of fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals supplied to them (the farmers).

“The chickens are coming home to roost, and the NDC are now realising the mass rejection by cocoa farmers of the new producer price of GH¢475 per bag announced for the new crop year 2016/2017. Instead of admitting the widespread discontent, and offering the long-suffering farmers a price closer to GH¢600 per bag of 64kg each, the NDC has typically resorted to vile propaganda,” Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto lamented.