Ghana has lost a total of 7,128.13 tonnes of cocoa to smuggling between the 2020 and 2025 crop years in the Volta and Oti Regions, according to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
The figures, presented during an engagement with the Oti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and other stakeholders at Jasikan, revealed a steady decline in smuggling volumes over the period. In the 2020/21 crop year, the two regions recorded 7,215.19 tonnes of smuggled cocoa, dropping to 5,656.25 tonnes in 2021/22, and further to 874.31 tonnes in 2022/23. The 2023/24 season recorded 468.75 tonnes, while the 2024/25 crop year saw 87.06 tonnes smuggled.
Mr. Jake Kudjo Samahar, Director of Special Services at COCOBOD, explained that smuggling in the two regions occurred in two forms, local smuggling within communities and transit smuggling across Ghana’s borders into neighbouring countries.
He disclosed that Ghana lost an estimated US$1.1 billion between 2022 and 2025 through the smuggling of cocoa beans into Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, depriving the country of significant foreign exchange earnings.
Dr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Board Chairman of COCOBOD, expressed concern over the trend, describing cocoa smuggling as a “lucrative and growing illegal trade” that required urgent and coordinated action to curb.
He urged members of REGSEC to strengthen surveillance and recommit to the fight against the menace, stressing that government and COCOBOD had provided adequate buying centres across all cocoa-growing regions to make legal sales easier and more profitable for farmers.
“The smuggling of cocoa is fast becoming the most attractive business in some areas, but it is destroying the foundation of Ghana’s cocoa industry. We must not allow short-term gains to undermine national progress,” Dr. Ofosu-Ampofo said.
Mr. John Kwadwo Gyapong, Oti Regional Minister, called for closer collaboration between COCOBOD and REGSEC in addressing the problem, assuring that the regional security apparatus would intensify operations to minimise smuggling activities.
He also urged COCOBOD to ensure that cocoa beans were purchased at fair prices to encourage farmers to sell through legal channels rather than to smugglers offering slightly higher rates.
Mr. Gyapong expressed concern over weak and porous checkpoints that allowed transit smuggling of cocoa beans through the Volta and Oti corridors into Togo. He said reinforcing these security posts was critical to safeguarding the country’s cocoa economy.
Nana Edje Tete Kpase Brantuo VII, Jasikanhene and Adontenhene of the Buem Traditional Area, appealed for the rehabilitation of access roads to remote cocoa farms to ease transportation challenges faced by farmers.
He also called for the establishment of additional licensed buying centres in hard-to-reach areas to reduce transportation costs and discourage farmers from selling to smugglers.
The engagement formed part of ongoing efforts by COCOBOD and regional authorities to strengthen anti-smuggling measures, improve cocoa marketing systems, and ensure that Ghana’s cocoa remains a major source of national revenue.
