The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has directed the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to provide scholarship for every cocoa farmer’s child at the tertiary education level in the country.
This means that all children of cocoa farmers qualify for free tertiary education through the Cocoa Scholarship.
The President also announced an upward adjustment in the producer price of cocoa from GH¢48,000 to GH¢49,600 per tonne or from GH¢3,000 per bag to GH¢3,100.
That, he said, was to ensure that as the market changed there were periodic reviews to restore farmers income.
Farmers Day
President Akufo-Addo said this in Accra last Friday at the National Farmers Day Awards and Dinner Night.
The event, which was the 40th, was on the theme: “Building Climate Resilient Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security”.
It was attended by award winning farmers from across the country, ministers of state, Members of Parliament (MPs) and a host of dignitaries.
Instead of the first Friday in December, the Farmers Day celebration was held last Friday due to the general election which falls on December 7, this year.
Relief
President Akufo-Addo said the Cocoa Scholarship had been a source of relief to parents in paying their children’s school fees, but with the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, the objective had become moot.
“Today, I have directed COCOBOD to provide scholarships to every cocoa farmer’s child at the tertiary level,” he said.
The President said cocoa farmers were now registered on to the Cocoa Management System and it was thus easy to track them.
“With my tenure drawing to a close, I look forward to returning to my home in Kyebi where I would be tending cattle, sheep and goats given to me by traditional rulers across the country,” he said, and extended an invitation to the farmers to visit him there to reminisce and reflect on the memories and achievements they shared.
“Let us keep building and supporting each other. It is one Ghana, united in purpose,” he stated.
Climate Change
Speaking on efforts being made by the government to support farmers to adapt to climate change, the President said empowering them (farmers) with information meant giving them a fighting chance against the unpredictability of climate change.
In addition to that, he said, water management was another crucial element in building climate-resilient agriculture.