Pay Cocoa Farmers Now -Minority

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has mounted strong pressure on the government and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to immediately pay cocoa farmers for beans sold since November 2025, warning that the continued delay is inflicting severe hardship on farming communities and threatening the stability of Ghana’s cocoa industry.

Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Dr Yaw Isaac Opoku, the Ranking member    described the situation as dire and unacceptable, revealing that Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) have been unable to pay farmers because funds used to pre-finance cocoa purchases have not been reimbursed by COCOBOD.

According to the Caucus, COCOBOD currently owes LBCs over GH¢10 billion for cocoa already purchased and taken over.

The Minority stressed that the LBCs cannot be blamed for the non-payment, explaining that they had borrowed heavily from banks and off-taker traders to finance the harvest, but are now constrained because their capital remains locked up.

“As a result, farmers are being forced to sell their cocoa on credit, at discounted prices, or return home with unsold produce,” the Minority said, cautioning that the situation could have far-reaching consequences for the national economy, given cocoa’s importance as a major foreign exchange earner.

The Caucus squarely blamed government and COCOBOD for what it termed a gross failure of responsibility, arguing that continuing cocoa purchases under the current circumstances would only lead to the piling up of cocoa taken-over receipts (CTORs) and deepen COCOBOD’s indebtedness to LBCs.

Rejecting claims by COCOBOD that sufficient funds had been released to buying companies, the Minority described such assertions as misleading.

“The reality on the ground is that cocoa farmers have not been paid for their produce for more than three months,” the Caucus stated, adding that the hardship facing farmers who depend solely on cocoa for survival has become unbearable.

The Minority recounted heart-breaking stories from cocoa-growing communities, including farmers who cannot afford medication, feed their families, or pay school fees. One farmer, they said, sold 100 bags of cocoa but could not buy blood pressure medication, while another was unable to purchase drugs for his critically ill wife due to the non-payment.

“For the first time in Ghana’s history, cocoa farmers had to postpone Christmas celebrations because they had not been paid for their produce,” the Minority noted.

Addressing explanations given by the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, the Minority dismissed claims that Ghana defaulted on the repayment of the 2023/2024 syndicated loan, insisting that since the introduction of the facility in 1993, Ghana has never defaulted. They challenged COCOBOD to provide evidence of any such default.

The Caucus also rejected arguments that falling international cocoa prices were responsible for the crisis, pointing out that previous governments had successfully cushioned farmers during periods of price decline.

They accused the current administration of mismanaging cocoa sales by reversing the forward-sales policy, under which about 70% of cocoa was sold in advance to protect farmers against price volatility. Under the current arrangement, they claimed, only about 30% of projected output was sold forward for the 2025/2026 season.

The Caucus also accused the government of betraying campaign promises made to cocoa farmers, recalling pledges to pay between GH¢6,000 and GH¢7,000 per bag.

Currently, the farmgate price stands at GH¢3,625 per 64kg bag, with fears that government may reduce it further to finance payments.

“Cocoa farmers are not beggars, they must be paid on time and treated with dignity,” the Minority stressed.

 

 

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