By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Cocoa farmers are to enjoy at least a 70 percent increase in the price for their produce for the 2023-2024 season that is set to officially be opened tomorrow, Saturday, September 9 2023 in the Ashanti region.
Also, henceforth, the new season for cocoa will start in September every year instead of the present October with the aim of synergizing the opening of the cocoa season with the start of a new academic year.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the change in the opening date for the cocoa season is to help assuage the financial challenges most cocoa farmers go through on their school wards when the new academic year begins when some of them have had to borrow despite having having cocoa beans for sale to earn income.
The CEO announced also that, despite the proposed increment in the prices for the new season, the substantial rise in the price of cocoa on the international market, which has crossed three thousand Dollars per ton of the produce now will reflect in the FOB in next season.
