President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced further increase in the producer price of cocoa from GH¢48,000 to GH¢49,600 per tonne for the 2024/2025 cocoa season.
This comes barely three months after the cocoa sector regulator, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), in September, this year, announced a landmark rise in the cocoa producer price for the season under review, raising the price to GH¢48,000 per tonne.
It marked a remarkable 129.36% increase from last season’s opening price of GH¢20,928.00 per tonne or GH¢1,308.00 per 64kg bag, mainly due to unprecedented rise in the global price of cocoa and cedi depreciation.
“On the advice of the Producer Price Review Committee, I announce an increase of the producer price of cocoa from GH¢48,000 to GH¢49,600 per tonne, or from GH¢3,000 per bag to GH¢3,100 per bag,” the President emphasized in a speech at the 40th National Farmers’ Day Awards and Dinner Night, in Accra.
He elaborated that the upward price adjustment is in sync with the Government’s policy to ensure that as the market changed, there were periodic reviews to restore farmer incomes.
The new price is higher than 1,800 CFA per kilogram, equivalent to GH¢48,530 per tonne offered by Ivory Coast, but still significantly lower than GH¢94,360 (3,500 CFA per kilogram), where much of Ghana’s beans is smuggled to in recent times.
The Nana Akufo-Addo-led Administration has continuously affirmed its resolve to make life comfortable for cocoa farmers, envisaging that the upward adjustments in the producer price hold the potential to reshape the cocoa industry.
The Government says improving farmer livelihoods and addressing the chronic issues of cocoa smuggling across borders were some of its top priorities as the nation seeks to revamp the industry. But with Togo offering 90% more, the recent price may do little to smuggling of the beans to the eastern neighbour although it is likely to stop smuggling to Ivory Coast, the western neighbour.
The 2024 National Farmers’ Awards saw Nana Owusu Achiaw, a 70-year-old farmer based in the Sekyere-Central District of the Ashanti Region, specializing in mixed cropping, being named as the 2024 National Best Farmer.
He has over four decades of farming experience, with more than 150 employees working on his large tract of land dedicated to animal husbandry, fish farming, vegetable, cereal and staple crop farming, plantation, agro-forestry and processing.
Nana Achiaw received GH¢1 million as his prize, a category sponsored by the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), and recognized for his outstanding adherence to climate-smart agricultural and innovative practices.
President Nana Akufo-Addo lauded the gallant farmers for their service to humanity, noting that, by offering better and remunerative prices and policies, the Government is encouraging farmers to stay in the cocoa sector and invest in sustainable agricultural practices.
The Farmers’ Day celebration was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) on the theme: “Building Climate Resilient Agriculture for Sustainable Food and Security”.
