Ghana cut its farmgate cocoa price paid to farmers on Thursday, aligning it with the international market to spur more demand, and announced a new financing model for bean purchases, amid a raft of other measures aimed at supporting farmers after the plunge in global cocoa prices.
The world’s second-biggest cocoa producer has been struggling to pay farmers as global cocoa demand has fallen sharply, leading global prices to halve over the course of a year to two-year lows of about $4,000 (R64,138) a tonne.
Ghana’s farmgate price, set annually by market regulator Cocobod, was 58,000 cedis (R84,621) a tonne, which has depressed demand from international traders, leaving farmers unpaid.
The new price will be set at 41,392 cedis (R60,403) per tonne for the rest of the 2025/2026 season, finance minister Cassiel Ato Forson told a press briefing.
The current situation is largely driven by the unwillingness of buyers to purchase Ghana’s cocoa because it has become uncompetitive and very expensive.
— Cassiel Ato Forson, Ghana finance minister
“The current situation is largely driven by the unwillingness of buyers to purchase Ghana’s cocoa because it has become uncompetitive and very expensive,” Forson said.
Payment delays left thousands of farmers without money for food, children’s school fees and basic farm maintenance, while significant unsold stocks of beans were left at the farms, they told Reuters.
Forson said Ghana’s cabinet has directed market regulator Cocobod to begin immediate repayment to all affected cocoa farmers. He said the new financing model will rely on domestic cocoa bonds, issued and managed by the regulator, with repayments tied to sales proceeds within the same crop year.
Forson said a new bill will be presented to parliament to link farmgate rates to international market prices and guarantee a minimum of 70% of the gross free on board (FOB) price.
A coalition of Ghanaian cocoa farmers has said it was willing to accept lower prices for future deliveries, provided the government first paid what it owed for beans already delivered at the official price. After the ministry’s announcement, it called on the government to expedite the proposed bill and clear all the outstanding arrears.
The West African country now processes between 30% and 40% of cocoa beans locally, and Forson said Ghana aimed to raise that to at least 50% in the 2026/27 crop season, adding that it will revive state-owned processing company CPC to support that goal.
Reuters
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