President John Dramani Mahama has assured cocoa farmers that the measures instituted to reform the cocoa sector will bring total transformation and guarantee fair prices going forward.
He said the prices would be fair enough to enable farmers to cover their cost of producing the commodity and also make decent margins.
Delivering a message to Parliament last Friday on the State of the Nation, President Mahama referenced a Cabinet decision a few weeks ago, saying “we have had to take the painful but necessary decision to revise the producer price of cocoa to achieve competitive pricing and resolve acute liquidity challenges in the sector.”
The President explained that failure to cut the price would have meant pumping in billions of borrowed funds, which would eventually hurt not only the fortunes of the sector but also all Ghanaians.
“This unplanned expenditure would have taken us right back to the very devastating economic problems we have only recently begun to escape.
“So, while fully understanding the concerns and protests of our farmers, I can firmly assure them that the reforms announced by the government will bring about a total transformation of the sector and guarantee them a fair price that enables them to cover the cost of producing the commodity and make decent margins,” President Mahama said in what is also known as the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
He explained that the difference between facing economic hardships and avoiding them was the exercise of sound economic judgement, insisting, “I am determined to make decisions that ensure our collective well-being and avoid suffering for all our citizens.”
The message touched on every sector of the economy, providing details of the challenges the government inherited in January 2025 and how it had dealt with them.
The address also touched on current challenges, risks to the economy, the well-being of Ghanaians, and spelt out plans and programmes underway and yet to be started.
Agriculture
President Mahama declared that agriculture remained central to national renewal and that since January last year, the administration had embarked on a decisive reset of the sector under the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda, with the Feed Ghana Programme serving as the flagship vehicle for implementation.
The objective, he reiterated, was to restore food sovereignty, stabilise food prices, reduce import dependence, create decent jobs, especially for the youth, and reposition agriculture as a strategic growth sector under our 24-Hour Economy policy.
The President disclosed that more than 413 educational institutions, from basic schools through to tertiary institutions, had been registered and were actively participating in the Feed Ghana Programme.
He said institutional farming was currently being undertaken by the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Prisons Service, the National Service Authority, basic and second cycle schools, public universities, and faith-based organisations, including churches and mosques.
To improve agricultural mechanisation, President Mahama said processes were underway to procure 660 tractors, 400 combined harvesters and more than 4,000 agricultural machines and implements.
He said irrigation-based farming was also being pursued to support year-round production and strengthen climate resilience.
Over the past months, the President said processes had begun for the construction of 10 new small dams, the rehabilitation of eight existing irrigation dams, and the construction of 250 solar-powered boreholes for farming communities and schools across the northern belt, Bono, and Ahafo regions.
“Under the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), we have launched a $20 million Agro-Input Distribution Project to strengthen food and nutrition security across the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone.
The project is being implemented in 12 districts across six regions with a target of 50,000 farming households, including 30,000 women and youth,” President Mahama said.
He said the intervention would support the production of key staples: maize, rice, soybeans, cowpeas, and groundnuts, while promoting year-round vegetable cultivation through solar-powered micro-irrigation schemes for farmer groups and selected schools.
New legislation
President Mahama also touched on some legislation that the government would table in Parliament to tighten some loopholes in different areas of national life.
They include legislation to tighten procurement processes by banning sole-sourced contracts, except in exceptional circumstances.
Also on the list is legislation to make it mandatory to seek Parliament’s prior approval before any government asset or property is leased or sold.
Already, the Minister of Finance has laid the Value for Money Office Bill before Parliament, and President Mahama said the landmark measure was a fulfilment of yet another campaign promise designed to decisively end waste, inflated contracts, abandoned projects, and chronic cost overruns that had, for far too long, drained the public purse.
“All these measures are intended to improve public trust and accountability,” the President stressed.
Energy sector
On Rural Electrification, the President said 200 out of 400 communities had been connected to the national grid, with a further 100 at various stages of completion, boosting the national electricity access rate to 89.05 per cent, up from about 88 per cent.
To address power losses, which stand around 25 per cent of generated power, and anchor the gains made in the sector, the President said Cabinet had approved private-sector involvement, particularly in billing and collections.
He said work was ongoing to implement the critical reform of the Multiple Lease Method for concessions in the distribution utilities.
President Mahama also announced that the Bui Power Authority had completed an additional 50MW of solar plant.
In the distributed solar sector, 30MW was achieved through rooftop installations, bringing the total installed capacity to 285MW and representing five per cent of renewable energy in the country’s generation mix.
“The Ministry of Energy and Green Transition will also supply 12,000 new smart net meters from the end of the first quarter of this year,” he said.
The President added that under the off-grid solar home systems for public institutions, delivery of materials for the first phase of 350 systems had started.
“Mr Speaker, as part of the last-mile electrification effort to achieve 99.98 per cent universal access by 2030, the ministry has mainstreamed mini-grids into the National Electrification Scheme (NES).
“Consequently, a feasibility study for the Afram Plains North District was completed for 100 communities, bringing the total number of islands and lakeside communities in the Afram Plains North and South districts to 150, ready for mini-grid electrification,” President Mahama stated.
Resetting Agenda is working
The President also told Parliament that “the Resetting Ghana Agenda is working.
The Accra Reset is gaining momentum, and together, they are laying the foundation for a stronger, more resilient, and more prosperous Ghana.”
He said the nation was in take-off mode on the runway, and therefore advised all to fasten their seatbelts on a journey in a direction already set.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh