About 72 cocoa farmers at Sefwi Wiawso, in the Western region, have appealed to the government for payment of compensation by a private company leading the establishment of a cocoa processing company.
The took away their parcels of farmlands for the establishment of a factory under the One District-One Factory programme.
According to the farmers, they are now going through economic difficulties after they were restrained from further working on the farms, last October, to allow for the construction of the Factory.
A spokesperson for the concerned farmers, Nana Adu, said the farmers have lost a total of 50 hectares of their farmlands to the company for the project. They were into cocoa and crop farming which served as their main sources of livelihood for many years.
Nana Adu said the farmers agreed to give up their farms for the planned cocoa processing factory because they were assured that it would generate jobs for, especially the youth and also the payment of appropriate compensation to the affected landowners.
However, since last October, they have not been told how much they are entitled to and the mechanism for the calculation of the compensation, the spokesperson indicated.
According to him, as a cocoa farmer, he harvests an average of 25 bags of cocoa annually which is enough to provide for him and his family.
But the Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Chief Executive, Louis Agyapong, explained that the establishment of the Cocoa Processing Company in the area is being spearheaded by a German-Ghanaian joint venture with the government serving only as the facilitator.
The said land was therefore acquired by the said company. He invited the affected farmers and the initiators of the project for a solution to the impasse.
