We are not dictating cashew prices - Cashew Council Ghana.
The Cashew Council Ghana (CCG) has debunked claims that it is making moves to dictate prices of cashew by implementing a pricing regime.
Barely two weeks since its launch in Techiman, there are claims in the media that the Council is attempting to implement “a pricing system” that will “dictate prices” of cashew. These reports also misrepresented the Council as “a group of cashew growers” on the Board of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA).
According to them, these reports are clear misinformation by people who do not have a clear understanding of the CCG, and by extension the TCDA.
The CCG, they explain, is the umbrella body of the various value chain actors’ associations in Ghana, including the Cashew Producers Association and other farmers’ groups. The four people representing the cashew sector on the TCDA, they explained, were selected from the various actor groups, two of whom are cashew farmers.
On pricing, they explained that what it has done is to, as part of reorganizing the sector, set up a pricing committee, with the vast majority of the members being cashew farmers, to formulate a cashew pricing formular. This, according to them, is an extension of the pricing committee of the TCDA.
“At our last meeting, where the Council was officially launched, there were representatives of all the various value chain actors. In fact, farmers were the majority. At this meeting, three working committees were set up, including the Pricing Committee as an extension of the pricing committee of the TCDA. It was a decision that was welcomed by all, particularly farmers,” Mr. Malvin Nii Smith, President of the Association of Cashew Processors Ghana (ACPG) said in an interview.
“Interestingly, because of the sensitive nature of pricing and because we know farmers are the major stakeholders in this regard, of the 19 members on this committee, the farmers have 10 representatives with buyers/ exporters and processors having six (6) and three(3) respectively,” he added.
A Cashew farmer in the Tain District, Mr. Sah Kofi Eric, who represents farmers in the District on the Pricing Committee described the claims as false and misleading, explaining that cashew farmers across the country have been duly represented on the said committee.
“There are 10 farmers from various cashew producing areas across the country on the pricing committee. Truth is not every farmer can be consulted in this process. And so, the various representatives update their constituents and take their inputs. That is why we encourage farmers all over the country to attend the association’s meetings at the local levels to make meaningful contributions,” he said in an interview.
He urged farmers to disregard such claims about the CCG and the TCDA, adding that cashew prices will remain competitive based on quality.
“The mandate of the working committee is to meet and suggest a pricing model and present it to the TCDA Board for further interrogation. The CCG, on its own, cannot and has no intention of dictating price of cashew,” he emphasized.
President of the Cashew Traders Association of Ghana, Mr. Alex Owuso Adjei, also refuted claims that exporters have been excluded from the CCG.
“It is not true that exporters have been excluded. I am an exporter and I serve on the pricing committee along with three other exporters. Our duty is to suggest modalities for pricing of cashew to the Board after consultations,” he said.
Acting Coordinator of the CCG, Yayra Amedzro, explained steps have been taken to bring clarity on the issues to farmers.
“As we speak farmers are having a national representative meeting in Wenchi and I believe the necessary information will be relayed to them and hopefully there will be some clarity on the issues of the new development,” she said.
The CCG was launched on Thursday 15th October 2020 by stakeholders of the cashew sector in Techiman to serve as a mother body for the various associations within the sector and to complement the TCDA in developing the sector.
