Mr James Carl Vandyck, the Western-South Regional Manager, Stallion Trust and Administration Company Limited, a corporate trustee service provider has urged cocoa farmers to join the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme to guarantee a decent income during their old age.
He said it was prudent for the farmers to take advantage of the social protection policies provided by the Scheme and enjoy some remuneration when on retirement.
Mr Vandyck, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Takoradi, said the Scheme was regulated by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the sole benefit of registered cocoa farmers and their beneficiaries.
He said his outfit had been registered by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), which was tasked to register cocoa farmers onto the Scheme.
Participation in the Scheme was compulsory for all registered cocoa farmers, he said, and that a mandatory contribution of five per cent of the farmer’s sales would be deducted at the sales point.
COCOBOD would also contribute a minimum of one per cent to the cocoa farmers’ sales.
“Farmers have the option of selecting from between 2.5 to 15 per cent of cocoa sales in addition to the mandatory contributions, so 25 per cent of the total contributions would be credited to their personal savings account and the remaining 75 per cent credited to a retirement account,” he explained.
On the retirement benefit, he said members would receive a lump sum equal to the balance in their personal savings account and pension payments from the retirement account, which was guaranteed for 15 years.
Mr Vandyck, therefore, urged cocoa farmers to get enrolled onto the Scheme to help safeguard their future from poverty during retirement.
From Emmanuel Gamson, Takoradi
GNA
