NDC has been a disaster for the cocoa sector – Bawumia

The 2016 vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged cocoa farmers and other stakeholders in the cocoa sector to support Nana Akufo-Addo and the elephant family to win the November 7 polls.

According to him, the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition has demonstrated the capacity to grow the cocoa sector with well-thought-out policies, and therefore, deserves to be given a second chance to revive the sector.Speaking to cocoa farmers in Brekum in the Amenfi West Constituency in the Western Region, during a two-day tour of the constituency, Dr. Bawumia recalled the strides the cocoa sector made under the sterling leadership of President John Kufuor and the NPP and how the sector was now struggling and declining under the NDC.

“If you look at this farm behind us, most of the cocoa trees in it are dying. The cocoa industry itself in Ghana is collapsing. If you look at the cocoa sector in the Ivory Coast and you look at Ghana, there is a clear difference in how the sector is going. Under President Kufuor, the NPP raised cocoa production from 341,000 tonnes to about 700,000 tonnes by 2008. Thanks to the good work of the NPP, cocoa production hit the historic 1million mark in 2010/2011. This was due to policies like the Mass Spraying and Fertilizer Subsidy programs as well as other policies.”

“Now these have collapsed. The NDC introduced politics into the Mass Spraying policy for example. They forgot that cocoa farms are like a network and so if one farm gets damaged, it would spread to other farms and so it is not smart to discriminate like the NDC has done because it is farmers who create wealth for this country and so by helping farmers, you are helping Ghana. Any government that, therefore, does politicization with a sensitive issue like cocoa is only damaging Ghana.

This is why the economy of Ghana is going down at the same time cocoa is going down“, he said.Dr. Bawumia explained to the farmers Nana Akufo-Addo’s vision for the Cocoa Sector when elected.He was accompanied on the tour by the Parliamentary Candidate for the area, Paul Dekyi and visited over 20 communities including Woman No Good, Bena, Oforikrom, Bena Nkwanta, Nyame Bekyere, Ohiampeanika, Wansema, Ntaaboo, Bisaaso, Mumuni, Pataase, Torompan, Nope, Mmoframfaadwen, Ayensukrom, Gravel Yard, Ahwiam and Prestea Nkwanta.

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