The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has revealed that the 2023/24 cocoa season was marked by an intense smuggling crisis, with almost daily arrests and even national security meetings to address the disruption to the sector.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme, COCOBOD Chief Executive Dr. Randy Abbey recounted how smuggling became widespread as neighbouring countries offered significantly higher prices for cocoa than Ghana, creating strong incentives for illicit trade.
“Last year, we had massive smuggling. Almost daily, we had arrest reports of smuggling to the extent that we even had national security meetings on smuggling,” Dr. Abbey said. He explained that smugglers often came directly onto farms to buy cocoa from farmers, bypassing official channels entirely.
Dr. Abbey noted that Ghana’s payment rate to farmers, $3,100 per tonne last season, lagged far behind offers from countries such as Togo, which sometimes exceeded $6,000 per tonne.
This large price differential fueled smuggling networks that disrupted production and forced urgent discussions at the highest levels of government.
Reflecting on the current season, Dr. Abbey said that reforms now in place have successfully eliminated smuggling, though they have introduced new challenges.
He added that the lessons from last year’s crisis remain important for future policy decisions, emphasizing the need to balance pricing, competitiveness, and farmer welfare as the sector moves forward.
