Cocoa farmers have described the recent cut in cocoa price as unfortunate as it is going to make them worse of but they say they are willing to live with it in order to sustain the sector.
Government through the Minister for Finance Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, announced new price for cocoa farmers yesterday, Tuesday, February 12, after prices at the world market reduced sharply.
The price is now pegged at GHc2, 587 away from the previous GHc3, 625 following an emergency Cabinet session last Wednesday to address broadly the crises of the sector.
This means that the farmer is losing as much as GHc1, 038, describing it as “very painful”.
According to the regulator COCOBOD, they have bought over 70 percent of the cocoa for the season and are left with mopping up of the excess on the market.
The reduction described by the opposition as “hair cut” follows recent agitation by farmers that, they have not been paid for the cocoa they sold to Licensed Cocoa Buyers since November 2025.
Speaking moments after the announcement by the minister, Francis Teinor, President of the Mankrong cocoa cooperative farmers association Cocoa, reluctantly welcomed the new move and asked his colleagues to accept the situation.
Reacting to other sweeping measures outlined by the Minister, Teinor said they are pleased to hear government for instance say it is going to replace the collapsed syndicated loan with domestic cocoa bonds.
He noted this is laudable because it will assure them that there is going to be ready funds every time to finance the sector.
“Even just calling for a cabinet meeting means, tells us a lot that government also has the farmer at heart. And we are appealing to all our farmers that it’s not good news. But for us to be able to sustain the sector, we should all accept it so that going forward, we cooperate with government as they bring in measures that going forward, they will go for bonds, which we all understand that when they go for bonds, the money will be sitting down yearly, he said on the Channel One TV..
Another cocoa farmer leader, Nana Aduana II, spoke in a similar fashion said the cut is “really painful” but they will accept it in good fate so that the sector does not collapse.
According to the spokesperson for the Ghana National Association of Cocoa Farmers, he was concerned why the cut affected only farmers.
“It is very painful however in the way that our cocoa system is set up right now farmers have no other option but to take it”, the farmer cum medical doctor said on the JOYNEW channel on Friday, February 13.
He said the cut should have affected the value chain saying staff of COCOBOD, License Buying Companies and all the others should been affected so that there is fairness.
He decried the current situation noting it is not only going to make cocoa farming “less attractive”, it is also going to leave the farmer poorer at a time the average life span of cocoa farmer is now 64 years.
“But the reverse question we would like to ask is, why are only farmers taking the hit? Because really when you look at the trajectory of the cocoa system, there is the farmer, the haulage system, there is the LBCs, then there is COCOBOD before then we put it in the jute sac. And send it away to who to do whatever they want. So, why is the farmer alone the one taking the hit for this amount of almost 1, 000 and over?”
He continued “First and foremost the farmer has not been paid for 4 months and then on top of that you have then hit with significant amount of over 1000. The first thing to do is to reduce the margin of the staff by the same price margin. And if for whatever reason the COCOBOD staff they keep their salaries cut then we will then have some justification. Farmer groups have been weakened in voice for many years it’s almost like there is a very limited collective bargaining so how do we fight back?
It is very painful; it exposes the farmer to more risks there is already a struggle. It makes the cocoa farming less attractive; the average age of the farmer now is 64 years based on these realities. How do you replace or attract the ageing farmer with younger blood to ideally come in and rejuvenate the industry? So, these are the challenges that are presented. So, when I say oh, we are sad, but we have explained the dynamics and why we are sad”, the Chief Executive Officer of OheneCocoa said.
By Gifty Boateng