Ghana government pays over GH¢21m bonus to cocoa farmers

The government of Ghana has released funds for the payment of bonuses to cocoa farmers, a press release from the Ghana Cocoa Board signed by the Chief Executive has said.

The release says the government has released funds totaling  GH¢21,228,637.11 for the payment of the second tranche of bonuses in July, 2009 for the 2008/2009 crop season.
The bonus to be paid is GH¢32.00 per tonne or GH¢2.00 per 64kg. of cocoa, the release added.

The government pays bonuses to cocoa farmers twice a year through Licensed Buying Companies.

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world.

According to the Bank of Ghana, exports of cocoa beans and products for the first half of 2009 amounted to US$1,060.97 billion (an annual growth of 16.6 percent) compared with US$909.96 million for the same period in 2008 (annual growth of 22.6 percent).

Cumulative cocoa purchases for the 2008/2009 main crop season as at June 04, 2009 amounted to 634,256 tonnes (against a forecast of 600,000 tonnes for the entire crop season). This compares with 663,800 tonnes for the same period in the 2007/2008 season.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi