Minority lied in cocoa fertiliser sale claim – MP

The Vice Chair of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, Kwame Asafu-Adjei, has said Minority members of parliament peddled untruths in their claim that the Akufo-Addo government was selling fertilisers to cocoa farmers.

The Minority had claimed that the fertilisers allegedly being sold were purchased during the Mahama administration and were meant for free distribution to farmers.

Addressing the press in Accra on Wednesday June 21, the Ranking Member on the Committee, Eric Opoku, called on government to stop the sale of such inputs.

“We want to emphasise that cocoa farmers have indirectly through the producer price determination formula used for the 2016/17 cocoa season, paid for the fertiliser. Selling the same fertiliser to the same farmer is broad daylight robbery,” Mr Opoku said.

“We are, therefore, urging the NPP government to be sensitive to the plight of the Ghanaian cocoa farmer by halting the sale of the fertiliser and revert to the NDC’s free fertilisation programme for the 2016/17 cocoa season.”

But reacting to these claims in an interview with Class FM’s parliamentary correspondent, Ekow Annan, on Wednesday June 21, Mr Asafu-Adjei said: “I am surprised that my friends from the Minority would say that. I would say this claim is unfortunate. The NPP introduced mass spraying exercise free of charge, so why should the NPP government turn round and try to sell fertilisers to farmers.

“We can do politics with whatever in Ghana but I am one person who will not do politics with cocoa because cocoa is the backbone of the economy. Cocoa is our mother, it is our father – the infrastructure, the drugs, the vehicles you drive all depend on cocoa, so when you do things which are not right, you don’t have the facts right, then you are making Cocobod unpopular because they will be going for loan.

“When you bring falsehood through the system, which I think is unfortunate, it will be difficult for them to negotiate.

“They (Minority) claim the Chief Executive of COCOBOD says he is going to put a price tag on cocoa. That is not true, he can’t do that. Is it not falsehood they are peddling?”