Cocoa Farmers Exchange Blows With Staff of Oil Plantation Company Over Land

[There was a recent clash in the Central region of Ghana between cocoa farmers and the staff of a palm oil plantation company when bulldozers showed up unannounced and began bulldozing the area, destroying the farmers’ cocoa trees in the process, to make way for palm trees that the company intends to grow. According to the article, heavily armed police showed up to prevent the cocoa farmers from protecting their farms from being destroyed. While there are ongoing negotiations between the Municipal Chief Executive of Agona West Municipality, where the farms were destroyed, and the oil plantation company to compensate the farmers, it remains to be seen whether the compensation will be adequate. The cocoa farmers saw their farms, their means of supporting themselves and their families, destroyed in front of their eyes without warning by a company which is ostensibly building a palm plantation as part of Ghana’s “One District One Factory” project to develop the region. Such development under capitalism can only lead to more social and economic inequality, as the benefits will not be shared equally. The real solution to the problem of poverty and underdevelopment is socialism. —Medved]

Cocoa farmers at Otsenkorang in the Agona West Municipality in the Central region have clashed with staff of an oil plantation company for destroying their cocoa trees to replace them with palm trees.

Reports by Adom News reporter, Kofi Adjei suggested that the destruction of the cocoa farms was to pave way for the building of an oil plantation company under government’s One-District-One-Factory (1D1F) initiative.

Speaking in an interview with Adom News, the assemblyman for the area, Paul Akyerew explained they were not informed about the company’s presence in the town.

“They came to the town on Monday and started the destruction with their bulldozers on Wednesday and upon confrontation, I was told it was a ‘1D1F’ company, but my checks at the assembly revealed otherwise,” he said.

Several attempts by the cocoa farmers to stop the destruction of their cocoa farms proved futile due to the presence of heavily armed policemen hired from Swedru and Nyakrom by the company to the site.

Original Source: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Cocoa-farmers-exchange-blows-with-staff-of-oil-plantation-company-over-land-763082 (GhanaWeb)