Ghana Hikes Cocoa Producer Price by 58.26%

Ghana - The Ghana Cocoa Board, or COCOBOD, on behalf of the government of Ghana has released the new rates for cocoa producers to farmers. The country's cocoa purchase prices are determined by this board, which said that the new price for the 2023–2024 crop year is 33,120 Ghana cedis (US$ 2,499) per ton, which is an increase from the previous September's price of 20,926 cedis (US$ 1,578) per ton.

The CEO of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, signed the statement, which stated that the price rise is meant to better the welfare of farmers in reaction to the rising cost of cocoa on the international market.

The President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is very concerned about the well-being of cocoa growers. Because of this, the producer price of cocoa has jumped by 336% since the NPP administration took office in 2017, from GH¢7,600 per tonne in the 2016–17 cocoa season to an unprecedented GH¢33,120 per tonne for the remainder of the 2023–24 cocoa season, according to the statement.

This is good news for Ghana, which produces cocoa in almost 800,000 farm households throughout its cocoa-producing areas, making it the second-largest producer in the world behind neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

But these people have been hit hard by price increases because of problems, especially with the cocoa black pod illness and the cocoa swollen shoot viral disease (CSSD).

Actually, over 500,000 hectares of cocoa crops in Ghana alone have been completely destroyed by CSSVD, as Joseph Aidoo disclosed in January. The problems facing the cocoa sector are further exacerbated by illicit mining operations and climate change, which further contributes to the decrease in cocoa production.

The core of Ghana's economy is the cocoa industry, which was predicted to generate over 3.4 billion GHS (or 454 million US dollars) in GDP in 2022 and expand at a national growth rate of 12.1% annually.