HISTORIC INCREMENT OF COCOA PRODUCER PRICE TO GH1,308 WILL LESSEN SMUGGLING -- CEO OF PBC

Mr Kwaku Nkansah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Produce Buying Company (PBC), has said that Ghana's unprecedented increment of cocoa producer price would surely lessen smuggling of the cash crop.

Some recalcitrant Ghanaians especially residents around border communities, smuggle the country's dried cocoa beans to other neighbouring countries in their quest to receive higher price for their product.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo - Addo on last Saturday September 9, 2023 announced the country's cocoa producer price for the 2023/2024 on GH¢1,308 per bag, and GH¢20,943 (USD1,821) per tonne at Tepa, in the Ashanti region.

The new price raised the cash crop per bag from GH¢800 (2021/2022 season) to GH¢1,308 (2023/2024 season), and GH¢12,800 to GH¢20,943 per tonne, registering a 63.5 per cent increment.

The CEO of PBC expressed optimism that the historic increment of cocoa producer price would prevent a section of farmers from selling their cocoa beans to the Ivory Coast and other immediate countries.

"whenever Ghanaians smuggle our cocoa to neighboring countries, their cocoa production and exports go up, and thereby increase their foreign exchange earnings"

"Ghanaians have greatly contributed to the position of the Ivory Coast as the world's leading producer of cocoa" he stated.

Mr Kwaku Nkansah said the new price means that smuggling and corruption within the cocoa production chain will lessen to a very minimal degree adding that the risk involved in smuggling is not even worth venturing, let alone thinking of it.

As a smuggler, he reiterated, you will need a vehicle for the goods, evade the authorities or possibly pay the errant ones to get across the border to sell for a difference of small amount of cedis per bag.

The CEO of PBC quizzed, "would that be worth the hassle? You could also lose your life because of the risky nature of the unpatriotic menace".

Mr Kwaku Nkansah expressed gratitude to President Akufo - Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for putting unending smiles in the face of the industrious Ghanaian farmers saying that "posterity will forever remember you".

For publication and promotion, contact,

Odopa2@gmail.com

+233202373920