Accra, August 4, 2025 – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Economy Committee, accused the government today of effectively deceiving cocoa farmers despite a steep increase in the producer price. He was responding to the government’s announcement that the price per tonne had been raised from US $3,100 to US $5,040 for the 2025/26 crop season.
Oppong Nkrumah noted that while the 62.6% jump delivers 70% of the estimated US $7,200 FOB value to farmers—aligning with President Mahama’s promise—it still leaves them behind global market returns once foreign exchange and inflation subsidies are factored in.
“A headline number doesn’t make farmers better off,” he remarked, stressing that the full advantages of the rise will be eroded if the strong cedi and price-setting policies persist.
The MP also highlighted what he described as a broken campaign pledge: the continuation of syndicated loans to pre-finance cocoa purchases. Despite past claims that such borrowing would be phased out or managed more sustainably, the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, reaffirmed that the same financing structure would be used in 2025/26, just as in the previous season. According to Oppong Nkrumah, retaining the syndicated loan model contradicts promises of tighter fiscal discipline and misleads stakeholders on sector reform. While the government touted the price hike as a restoration of fairness—boosting the cedi-translated equivalent to GHS 51,660 per tonne (about GHS 3,228.75 for a 64 kg bag) and reportedly raising the farmer's share of FOB value from 63.9% to over 99% through currency subsidies—Oppong Nkrumah argued the interim benefit will likely dissipate. “When exchange rate advantages fade,” he warned, “farmers stand to lose nearly everything they thought they’d gained.”
The MP urged the government to introduce price adjustment mechanisms tied to world cocoa rates rather than fixed season‑opening prices, and to overhaul COCOBOD’s mandate so that it focuses on farmer interests rather than financial engineering. In closing, he called on the administration to commit in practice, not just rhetoric, to transparent and dynamic pricing—a model that, he believes, would better reflect global market movements and insulate farmers from future shocks.
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