The Minority in Parliament has described the newly announced cocoa producer price of GH¢3,228.75 per bag as a betrayal of Ghanaian cocoa farmers, calling it “ridiculous, unfair and completely unacceptable.”
The reactions follow the government’s decision to increase the price of a 64-kilogramme bag of cocoa by GH¢128.75 — from GH¢3,100 to GH¢3,228.75 — for the 2025/2026 cocoa season, representing a 4% increase in local currency terms.
This marginal adjustment comes despite a dramatic surge in international cocoa prices. The government has pegged the new producer price at US$5,040 per tonne, up from US$3,100 — a 62.58% rise aimed at aligning local farmgate prices with global market trends.
The revised pricing was approved during a recent meeting of the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC), chaired by a senior government official, ahead of the official opening of the new cocoa season on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
The gross Free on Board (FOB) value for the 2025/2026 season was calculated based on a mix of approximately 100,000 tonnes of outstanding contracts from the 2023/2024 season, sold at US$2,600 per tonne, and market projections for the upcoming season.
At an estimated exchange rate of GH¢10.25 to the US dollar, the new cocoa price translates to GH¢49,600 per tonne, or GH¢3,228.75 per 64-kg bag (gross weight).
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Food and Agriculture Committee, Dr. Isaac Yaw Opoku, described the new pricing as a “stab in the back” of hardworking farmers who have long sustained Ghana’s economy.
He criticised the government’s decision as both “comical and shameful.”
The Minority caucus warned that continued underpayment could drive farmers to lease out their cocoa farms to illegal miners, exacerbating the country’s galamsey crisis and endangering the future of Ghana’s cocoa sector.
He said “Cocoa farmers deserve far better for their toil and sacrifices for their enormous contribution to the
economy of the country. They cannot be taken for granted all the time. The deception must stop!
“This new farm gate price of GH¢3,228.75 per bag is ridiculous, laughable, comical, absurd, shameful,
unfair and a stab in the back of cocoa farmers. This is complete ‘sakawa’ and unacceptable.
“This new price of GH¢3,228.75 per bag is completely unacceptable and has to be reviewed immediately to motivate our cocoa farmers and prevent the temptation of farmers giving their cocoa farms out to galamsey operators.”
“We must safeguard our cocoa industry, protect our farmers’ livelihoods and maintain Ghana’s enviable position in the industry. The government must come again and offer a better price. Cocoa farmers matter and demand better!! If you cannot spell, you do not write,” he added.
