Following his campaign promise in the 2016 electioneering campaign that he would implement a Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has walked the talk and launched it in Kumasi yesterday.
The scheme seeks to provide pension for 1.5 million Ghanaian cocoa farmers when they go on retirement. The farmers are to attain 55 years of age before they can reap the benefits of the scheme.
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) was mandated in 1984, under PNDC Law 81, to establish a contributory insurance scheme for cocoa farmers within the framework of the Cocoa Social Security Scheme, so that they can also enjoy the pension scheme when they retire, but successive governments, for various reasons, were unable to fulfil it.
Addressing the gathering of cocoa farmers in Kumasi yesterday, PresidentAkufo-Addo emphasised that there were hundreds and thousands of cocoa farmers across Ghana, who are responsible for the production of the crop that has been the mainstay of Ghana’s economy for years.
He mentioned that these farmers had been breaking their back to provide Ghana with incomes that have provided infrastructure for the country.
The President noted that the event seeks to deepen the resolve of the government towards increasing productivity in the cocoa industry.
The scheme, the President indicated, would enable cocoa farmers to make voluntary contributions towards their retirement.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the scheme guarantees a decent retirement for cocoa farmers as well, and ensures that they have decent livelihoods upon retirement.
The President, therefore, reiterated the commitment of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ensuring that the industry receives the needed attention.
To ensure a successful rollout of the scheme, Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that COCOBOD was embarking on a census to collect data from the farmers for the Cocoa Management Scheme (CMS). The CMS, he said, would help facilitate the prompt payment to beneficiary farmers.
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Board Chairman of COCOBOD, on his part, noted that the cocoa industry had recorded a major accomplishment under the Akufo-Addo administration.
He pointed out that the introduction of the pension scheme would increase productivity, and thereby provide a decent income for farmers, who have toiled hard to produce the cash crop.
Hackman underscored that successive governments had reneged on bringing the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme into fruition, but the President mustered courage to introduce this novelty.
He expressed appreciation to President Akufo-Addo, adding that farmers are happier today than before, and that the pension scheme would spur them on to work hard for greater productivity.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, noted that the pension scheme seeks to introduce financial benefits that farmers would enjoy when they go on retirement.
Prof Nana Mensah Bonsu, Asekyerehene of Manhyia Palace, who chaired the function, said the hard work of cocoa farmers had provided the revenues that have been used to develop Ghana.
However, he said, the profession had been left to the aged, to the extent that the youth no longer find cocoa farming attractive.
He, therefore, lauded the President for providing the need to make a pension scheme available to the cocoa farmers.
The post Pension Scheme For Cocoa Farmers Is Finally Here appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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