Coconut farmers mostly from the Western Region are complaining about the diversion of coconut seedlings that are supposed to be distributed freely to them.
Government through the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has initiated the distribution of coconut seedlings freely to farmers as part of efforts to increase the production and export of the fruit.
However, the farmers say although the seedlings are supposed to be given to them for free, most farmers do not receive it because some Agric officers tasked to distribute the seedlings hoard them and sell them to farmers at half the market price.
“We hear seedlings have been given out. They have been donated towards expanding our farms to increase yield. But the seedlings never get to farmers. Some people keep them and sell them to us at half price. It is really a challenge because the seedlings are expensive making it difficult for us to expand our farms,” one of the farmers told Citi Business News at the just-ended International Coconut Festival.
The market price for one seedling is GH¢10.
“I don’t know anything about the distribution, there is no information. In the beginning, we searched for some but never got. We went to the Agric offices at Amasaman, Nsawam etc, but there were none. So eventually, we had to buy at the roadside,” another farmer lamented.
There are currently about 45,000 acres of coconut farms across the entire country, most of which is in the Western Region with a few acres in the Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions.
Meanwhile, the African Coconut Group believes effective collaboration between GEPA and farmer associations can help solve the problem.
“We have Associations, so we must ensure that the Associations get the seedlings and do the distribution to members. We must also ensure that we have a database of the farmers so that we can trace to know how many seedlings they need,” Davies Koboe, Chairman of the group said in an interview.
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority, however, says it has already taken steps to address the issue by halting the distribution process to correct the problem.