The Ghana Cocoa Board’s executive management and senior staff have slashed their salaries for the remainder of the 2025-26 crop year, citing liquidity pressures in the cocoa sector, as the government moves to overhaul Cocobod’s financing model following a recent industry crisis.
Cocobod said in a statement dated Feb. 16 that executive management had taken a 20% pay cut, while senior staff salaries had been reduced by 10%, effective immediately.
The move comes days after Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson announced reforms that will reshape Cocobod’s operations after the collapse of its annual syndicated loan, a facility that has historically underpinned cocoa purchases.
Cocobod said the salary reductions, alongside procurement cost controls and a staff rationalisation exercise, are intended to cut overall expenditure and align costs with revenue.
While Ghana finds means to hold the cocoa sector together, neighbouring country and leading cocoa producer Côte d’Ivoire maintains its farm-gate price at 2,800 CFA francs, equivalent to about GH¢3,600 per 64-kilogram bag, with authorities saying the rate will remain unchanged until March 31, 2026, despite the global market downturn.
In Ghana, as part of the restructuring, government, according to the finance minister, is working to transfer Cocobod’s 5.8 billion cedis ($450 million) legacy debt to the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana.
Government also plans to introduce a new financing model for cocoa purchases starting in the 2026-27 crop season, anchored by a new Cocobod bill expected to be submitted to parliament. The legislation will establish a domestic cocoa bond framework, replacing the current system that depends on buyers’ pre-financing cocoa purchases.
The reforms also include a policy shift to increase local value addition, with 50% of Ghana’s cocoa beans to be processed domestically from the 2026-27 season.
The pay cuts and financing overhaul come as Ghana adjusts to weaker global prices that have disrupted domestic purchases. Forson said the Producer Price Review Committee reduced the farm-gate price to GH₵41,392 per metric ton, or GH₵2,587 per 64-kilogram bag, effective immediately. The new rate replaces the GH₵58,000 per ton announced in October.
The change follows a drop in global cocoa prices to about $4,100 per ton from an average of $7,200, reducing the competitiveness of Ghana’s beans and slowing purchases.
