Cocoa farms in Offinso, Manya Krobo under threat as farmers push for COCOBOD bill assent

Concerned Cocoa Farmers Association is warning that cocoa farms in Offinso and Manya Krobo face increasing threats from land degradation and real estate development if the new COCOBOD bill is not signed into law.

President of the association, Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu, has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to assent to the bill within 48 hours, describing it as critical to protecting cocoa-growing lands across the country.

In an interview with Star FM, he said cocoa farms in Offinso, one of the leading cocoa-producing areas in the Ashanti Region, are gradually being lost to estate development, a trend he fears could significantly reduce cocoa production.

“There’s a town called Offinso in the Ashanti Region, the second producer of cocoa in the Ashanti Region. There are pillars within all the cocoa farms, which they are going to destroy and turn into real estate. If this bill is not passed, we will lose a lot of cocoa,” he said.

Nana Oboadie also highlighted concerns in the Eastern Region, particularly Manya Krobo, where he said cocoa-growing lands have been degraded while other areas have been earmarked for activities that could further threaten cocoa cultivation.

“Not only that place, come to the Eastern Region. The whole of Manya Krobo was even degraded. There’s another place that they have also demarcated, which they are going to destroy,” he stated.

According to him, the situation demonstrates the urgent need for stronger legal protection for cocoa farms and cocoa trees, which remain vulnerable despite the sector’s importance to Ghana’s economy.

He argued that while the country has laws protecting cocoa beans and other strategic national resources, there is insufficient protection for the cocoa trees that produce the crop.

“This is something simple. This is for the interest of the state. Because when you discover oil or you discover salt anywhere, that thing is for the state,” he said.

Nana Oboadie maintained that the proposed COCOBOD legislation would help safeguard cocoa lands from encroachment, preserve farmers’ livelihoods and secure the future of Ghana’s cocoa industry.

“When the trees are no more, can we get the beans? We can’t get the beans. So these laws protect the tree, protect the land and protect the farmer himself,” he added.

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Dogbatse Atsu Eugene

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