The Ghana Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (GCBC) has called for depoliticisation of the cocoa sector, stating that durable reforms demanded dialogue beyond partisan recrimination, with farmers’ welfare as the non-negotiable centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They said that the crisis in the sector called for a sober reassessment of the country\u2019s historical reliance on a single export commodity.<\/p>\n
\u201cEconomic resilience requires diversification within agriculture and the expansion of agro-processing. Equally urgent is the reclamation of lands ravaged by illegal mining, without which future agricultural promise will wither,\u201d the bishops added.<\/p>\n
This was contained in a pastoral letter by the conference outlining seven-point strategic measures for the renewal of the cocoa sector, addressed to the President.<\/p>\n
It was signed by the Bishop of Sunyani and President of the conference, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi.<\/p>\n
Forensic audit<\/p>\n
They also called for a forensic audit of the sector, covering the past 12 years, which the letter said should be published promptly to rebuild trust and discipline.<\/p>\n
The bishops also urged the government to provide social protection support to the farmers, including the timely distribution of subsidised inputs.<\/p>\n
The government should also encourage the cultivation of complementary crops such as plantain to reduce excessive dependence on cocoa.<\/p>\n
The bishops also called for the provision of more disease-resistant seedlings, strengthening of extension services to the farmers to safeguard quality and preserving the\u00a0country\u2019s premium reputation in the sector.<\/p>\n
The government should also facilitate access to land, affordable credit, and technical training to render cocoa farming a dignified and viable livelihood for the next generation.<\/p>\n
The clergymen said there was a need to reinforce research institutions and accelerate local processing to deepen value addition and buffer external shocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Payment<\/p>\n
The bishops, however, called on President John Dramani Mahama to ensure the immediate settlement of all arrears owed to cocoa farmers in the country.<\/p>\n
The bishops said doing so would pave the way for recent reforms in the sector, as announced by the government, to succeed.<\/p>\n
They said that no reform could gain legitimacy while farmers remained unpaid, adding that \u201cemergency liquidity is essential to restore confidence\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the pastoral letter dated last Tuesday, the bishops explained that they were addressing the President out of a profound sense of pastoral responsibility and civic fidelity regarding the deepening crisis in the nation\u2019s cocoa sector.<\/p>\n
The letter said that for more than a century, cocoa had been both an economic mainstay and a moral inheritance, sustaining rural households and underwriting national development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough our dioceses embedded within farming communities, we encounter daily the quiet heroism and mounting anguish of cocoa farmers. Conscience, therefore, compels us to speak,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Commitment<\/p>\n
The bishops further entreated the government to rescue the cocoa sector, which they said was both an economic necessity and a moral imperative, adding that there must be transparent leadership and steadfast commitment to the common good.<\/p>\n
They assured the President of their prayers for wisdom and courage, and expressed the trust that \u201ca decisive action will restore confidence and secure a sustainable future for this noble inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ghana Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (GCBC) has called for depoliticisation of the cocoa sector, stating that durable reforms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[79],"class_list":{"0":"post-95093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ghana","8":"tag-ghana"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116103382523322252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}