The President of Sehwi Bekwai Cocoa Farmers Cooperative Union, Issifu Issaka, has refuted claims that cocoa farmers are involved in the smuggling of cocoa.
He explained that the illegal activity is carried out by traders, businessmen, and middlemen within the sector.
“The issue with smuggling, the answer is that cocoa farmers do not do the smuggling themselves. There are traders, businessmen, middlemen who are around the sector. They raise their own money, buy the cocoa, and then take them to neighboring countries to make profit,” Issaka stated during an interview on ABC IN THE MORNING.
Issaka emphasized that no cocoa farmer has been arrested in connection to smuggling, pointing out that it is always the traders or businessmen who are apprehended.
He added, “In the larger scale, the smuggling is done by the businessmen who are running the cocoa value chain.”
This clarification came in response to growing concerns about the impact of cocoa smuggling on the nation’s economy.
Speaking on the challenges facing the cocoa industry, Issaka noted that the decline in cocoa production in Ghana goes beyond smuggling.
He highlighted other pressing issues such as climate change and the diminishing appeal of the cocoa sector to farmers.
“Farmers also see the cocoa sector as unattractive. Most of them are leaving the sector, venturing into other plantations like rubber farming, cashew farming, oil palm plantation, maize, and others,” Issaka remarked.
