Despite posts by the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, on the government’s plans to increase financial support for cocoa farmers, COCOBOD (Ghana Cocoa Board) has denied claims circulating on social media that there will be a 70% increase in cocoa prices and clarified that no such increase in farmgate prices had been confirmed.
COCOBOD urged the public to regard the information as false, stressing the importance of relying only on official communications from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and COCOBOD.
“Our attention has been drawn to a false flyer circulating on social media claiming that the Minister for Food and Agriculture has announced an increase in cocoa prices. This information is completely untrue,” COCOBOD stated. “We urge our cherished stakeholders and the public to disregard this fake news and rely only on official communication from COCOBOD and the Ministry,” COCOBOD’s statement said.
Government’s Efforts to Support Cocoa Farmers
While the claims of a 70% increase are deemed false by COCOBOD, the government says it has been actively working on strategies to improve the financial well-being of cocoa farmers. The government had previously outlined plans to provide farmers with more support, aiming to address the challenges in the cocoa sector, including the decline in production.
The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), which is responsible for processing cocoa in Ghana, has faced a significant drop in production in recent years. Despite having the capacity to process up to 64,500 tonnes of cocoa, CPC produced only 6,614 tonnes in 2023 and 2,886 tonnes in 2024, largely due to a reduced supply of cocoa beans.
Despite the government’s plans to support farmers, cocoa prices in Ghana still lag behind international prices. As of November 2024, the Ghanaian government had raised the cocoa farmgate price to GH₵49,600 per metric ton for the 2024/25 season, up from GH₵48,000. However, this price is still much lower than the global prices, and discussions continue around how to ensure farmers are compensated more fairly.
World Bank’s Concerns Over Tax Exemptions
As the government works on revitalizing the cocoa sector, the World Bank has raised concerns about the tax exemptions provided to cocoa farmers. According to the World Bank’s recent “Ghana Public Finance Review” report, these exemptions, especially on Personal Income Tax (PIT) and other duties cost the country significant revenue, amounting to about 3.9% of GDP.
The World Bank has suggested that Ghana reconsider these exemptions as part of broader efforts to improve the country’s domestic revenue mobilization.
However, experts like Abeku Gyan-Quansah from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) warn against taxing cocoa farmers. He points out that the current pricing structure already places a heavy burden on them. Given the low farmgate prices, farmers are not able to benefit from the higher global market prices, and imposing additional taxes could further hurt their livelihoods.
