Bawumia launches cocoa management system to usher in farmers’ pension scheme

Ghana News Agency (Accra) – Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the launch of the cocoa management system (CMS) will play a significant role in the implementation and efficient management of the soon-to-be-launched cocoa farmers’ pension scheme.

The CMS is an online portal which will capture a digital database of cocoa farmers, their households and their businesses.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Bawumia said the innovation is a game-changer which will transform the cocoa sector in Ghana. The government is poised to launch the cocoa farmers’ pension scheme, he said, but will require more accurate data on cocoa farmers and farming, hence the need to implement the cocoa management system.

Tthe CMS is an important element of the government’s Digitisation Agenda, which encompasses many government institutions.

“The CMS is not only in line with the government’s digital transformation agenda, but will also bring enormous benefits to stakeholders in the cocoa industry, especially farmers,” the vice-president said.

Seamless platform

“At the click of a button, the CMS system can show all the needed information in real time,” Dr Bawumia said. “This is a seamless technology platform that will help COCOBOD manage the cocoa industry.

“For the first time, every programme, policy intervention, plan and projection and infrastructural development needed in cocoa-growing areas will be based on verified data. Certainly no more ‘cocoa roads in Accra’. The CMS will reject such an intervention.”

He added, “Imagine what this platform will do in compiling a census of farmers once we start the cocoa farmers’ pension scheme. We will know the cocoa farmers, their census, their demographics and their output, and how to help build up their pension scheme.”

The vice-president said this technological innovation, coupled with digitisation of other government agencies, is evidence of the government’s determine to digitise the Ghanaian economy and bring more efficiency and transparency to both the private and public sectors.

Know your citizens

“I wish to emphasise that the government is committed to building a cash-light economy through an inclusive digital payments ecosystem,” Dr Bawumia said.

“Our overarching objectives in this Digitisation Agenda are to improve both economic and public sector governance, improve transparency and accountability, improve domestic revenue mobilisation and curb corruption.”

He said the government will quickly transform the Ghanaian society by leveraging technological innovation as a means to develop a civic database of all Ghanaians.

“It is impossible to govern a modern society when we don’t know who are the citizens. We need to formalise the economy and move the huge informal sector to the formal sector to improve the management of the economy,” he said.

Dr Bawumia congratulated COCOBOD for the innovation and urged other government agencies to take a cue from its move, striving to digitise its operations in line with the government’s vision.

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