By Jerry Azanduna

Techiman, (Bono East) March 11, GNA – The Cashew Farmers Association in the Bono East Region have called on the government to do more to stabilise the price of the economic crop.

The farmers said they were also optimistic that the government would reduce taxes on the export of cashew products, as Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minister of Finance presents the first Business Statement and Economic Policy of the government in parliament today.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Techiman, the farmers observed that price instability for cashew was affecting their economic activities, with many of them running losses, hence the need for a fix price for the cashew nuts.

“We expect that the government will set a fixed price for cashew like that cocoa,” Mr Agyemang Kodom, Union Chairman for the Cashew Farmers Association at Jema in the Kintampo South District stated.

He said the cashew sector contributed about 50 percent of the nation’s foreign income earnings, saying the sector remained a strong economic pillar for the nation, with high economic prospects.

“We are engaged in serious cashew business but taxes on agro-chemicals including fertilizers are very high and thereby slowing down our businesses and also making the sector unattractive to the youth,” Mr Kodom stated.

He also called for establishment of factories and storage facilities that would enable the farmers to also add value to the cashew nuts and apples too, saying the economic crop had huge benefits, besides the nuts, calling for government export to expand their farms.

GNA

DEN/BM