{"id":12384,"date":"2024-06-06T01:11:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T01:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=12384"},"modified":"2024-06-06T01:45:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T01:45:52","slug":"cocoa-farmers-are-still-selling-farms-to-illegal-miners-western-north-ndc-chairman-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=12384","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa farmers are still selling farms to illegal miners \u2013 Western North NDC Chairman claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 53 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

The Western North Regional Chairman for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Michael Aidoo has raised concerns over the alarming rate at which cocoa farmers are selling their farms to illegal miners, known locally as \u2018galamseyers\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Aidoo, the farmers\u2019 dwindling interest in cocoa farming is a direct result of government neglect and the deteriorating state of the cocoa sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hasn\u2019t affected COCOBOD as much as it has devastated our elderly farmers in the villages. They are now selling their farms to galamseyers because they no longer find farming profitable,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the host of Yen Nsempa, Nana Yaa Brefo and co-hosted by Isaac Ekow JB, on June 5, Aidoo highlighted that under the tenure of former President John Dramani Mahama, Ghana\u2019s cocoa production reached approximately 900,000 tonnes annually.<\/p>\n

However, this figure has plummeted to around 500,000 tonnes under the current administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring John Dramani Mahama\u2019s time, we used to produce 900,000 tonnes of cocoa. Today, we struggle to even get 500,000 tonnes,\u201d Aidoo remarked. He attributed this decline to the current government\u2019s failure to provide essential support to cocoa farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMahama used to give free fertilizers to farmers and arranged for their farms to be sprayed at no cost. When the cocoa beans started to rot, his government established nurseries and provided experts to assist the farmers. But under the NPP and Akufo-Addo, these supports have ceased,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Aidoo criticized the government for failing to address the needs of the farmers, which has had a severe impact on their livelihoods adding that the delay in increasing cocoa prices, compounded the farmers\u2019 struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cocoa prices were not increased for four years, causing immense hardship for the farmers. It\u2019s only this year, 2024, that they have decided to raise the prices, but by then, many farmers had already given up after enduring so much loss,\u201d Aidoo explained.<\/p>\n

He expressed a widespread sentiment among farmers who are nostalgic for the days of Mahama\u2019s presidency. \u201cNow, if you engage with the farmers, they are all crying for John Mahama,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

The post Cocoa farmers are still selling farms to illegal miners \u2013 Western North NDC Chairman claims<\/a> first appeared on 3News<\/a>.<\/p>

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The Western North Regional Chairman for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Michael Aidoo has raised concerns over the alarming rate at which cocoa farmers are selling their farms to illegal… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12384"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12459,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384\/revisions\/12459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}