Stop The Excuses & Increase Producer Price Of Cocoa Now -Minority Caucus

The Minority Caucus in Parliament, led by Dr. Isaac Opoku, the Member of Parliament for Offinso-South, has expressed their concern over the government’s failure to adjust the producer price of cocoa.

The group, at a news conference held in Kumasi yesterday, wondered why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will not increase the producer price of cocoa for the 2025/2026 season.

Two letters issued by Ghana COCOBOD on April 8 and 9, 2025 signed by Dr. James Kofi Kutsoati, Acting Deputy Chief Executive, Operations and Public Affairs Department, have discrepancies with the reasons for not increasing the producer price of cocoa.

The Offinso-South legislator, on behalf of the minority caucus, said the posture of the government raises a number of questions.

The legislator queried the government why there could not be any price adjustment irrespective of what happens on the international and local markets.

According to him, it is clear the government is reneging on its campaign promise to pay the cocoa farmer 70% of the Free On Board (FOB) price, and in sharp contrast to the NDC’s manifesto promise (page 43), as well as promises to pay cocoa farmers GHC6,000 per bag.

According to Dr. Isaac Opoku, cocoa farmers believed in these promises and voted overwhelmingly to bring NDC into power, hence the government must stop the numerous excuses and honour its promise and increase the producer price now.

Disputing all the reasons cited by COCOBOD in their two releases, Dr. Opoku indicated that the producer price review committee is a standing committee, which is already in place, adding that Board of Directors of COCOBOD has no role in the formation of the committee, hence cannot be used as an excuse not to increase the producer price.

It was further disclosed that as at February, 2025, cocoa purchased and taken over by COCOBOD was more than 560,000 tonnes, which is close to US$3 billion  (GHC45 billion) based on the achieved average FOB price.

He argued that the government must not hide behind COCOBOD’s debt to deny farmers their legitimate share of the FOB for their toil.

Dr. Opoku queried, “What operational challenges are so compelling that COCOBOD cannot increase the producer price of cocoa?”

Dr. Opoku disclosed that the recent price hike in La Cote d’Ivoire has created a significant disparity that threatens to exacerbate cocoa smuggling across the border, stressing that the Ivorian government’s decision to increase cocoa prices from CFA 1,800 to CFA 2,200 per kilo, representing a substantial 22.24% rise, has widened the price gap between the two West African cocoa giants.

The Legislator further said at the current rate, Ivorian farmers are now receiving the equivalent of GHC3,635 per 64kg bag of cocoa, a staggering GHC535 more than Ghana, noting that this “stark difference presents an irresistible incentive” for smugglers to divert Ghanaian cocoa across the border, potentially leading to mass exodus of our prized light crop beans from the border regions, particularly Western South, Western North, and Brong Ahafo.

Dr. Opoku further warned that cocoa farmers might tend to sell their cocoa farms for illegal mining activities, especially in the face of surging gold prices.

He called on the government to take “immediate and decisive” action to address the pressing issue, noting that the time for lamentations and blame game has passed.

“This is not merely an economic decision, but a matter of national security and preservation of our agricultural heritage,” Dr. Isaac Opoku noted.

From Oswald Pius Freiku, Kumasi

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