Kuapa Kooko Association has held it’s 29th Annual General Meeting and elected new leadership to run the administrative affairs of the company.
Lawyer Emmanuel Kwabena Arthur, Managing Director of the Association at the occasion commended members of the Union, especially, the farmers and staff for their commitment and contributions that made the elections successful.
According to him, the Union believe in democracy, transparency and accountability in the administrative work of the company, and for that matter, management and staff would continue to ensure that they work cordially with the farmers to make the company one of the most viable business entities to the farmers interest by improving their standards of living.
He disclosed that, the most pressing challenges facing the Cocoa farmers is the illegal mining (galamsey) .
Illegal miners ,he said,are the farmers main competitors which he said has become a threat to them and urged the government and policy makers in the Mining sector to fight the illegal mining with all seriousness it deserves to safe the Cocoa industry from collapse.
He also appealed to the government through COCOBOD to extend the Cocoa farmers scholarship to the tertiary level for the farmers to apply for their wards, as the Free Education policy now making the scholarship function as it’s used to be.
Mr James Agyekum, the newly elected President of the Association also promised the new executives commitment to reconcile the factions in the company that were divided in support of individuals in the Union to come together to make the company strong and vibrant as it’s used to be towards the welfare of the members.
He assured the new leadership readiness to be always accountable and transparent to the members and ensure that the would be no discrimination among the membership against each other.
Mr. Boateng Solomon, Executive Secretary of Kuapa Kooko Farmers Union (KKFU) commended the government through COCOBOD for the increment in the new price of Cocoa.
According to him, the increment was a welcome news for the farmers to improve their lives, but would not say they are better enough, as compare to the farm gate price to a ton of Cocoa on the international market.
He urged the government to rekindle the mass spraying exercise for the farmers and replace the aged Cocoa plants with new ones and compensate the farmers that deserve compensation.
According to him, Ghana did not meet the target last year because the mass spraying was not properly done, he also tasked the government to improve the various Cocoa roads in the country within the Cocoa growing areas not in the urban areas to reduce the transportation cost of the farmers when sending their produce to the market centres.
He pleaded with the government to subsidize prices of farming inputs which are imported into the country to help reduce the prices for farmers.
