Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the member of parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, has said close to one million Cocoa farmers are receiving haircuts with the Mahama government decision to cut the cocoa price by 28.6%.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, the 28.6 per cent cut will adversely affect the livelihoods of over one million cocoa farmers nationwide and also impact about 4 million people who depend on the cocoa farmers.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Thursday, February 12, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, stated, “This action to announce a 28.6% reduction in the price amounts to a haircut of about 28 per cent, close to one million Ghanaian cocoa farmers, you may not recognise it.
This 28.6% haircut is going to affect about one million Ghanaian cocoa farmers, and if you add to it the number of people who assist them on the farms and their dependants my gosh, we are getting to 3 to 4 million people who are going to be affected by this haircut”.
Additionally, the Minority in Parliament told President John Dramani Mahama to immediately dismiss the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr Randy Abbey, over the ongoing crisis facing the cocoa sector.
According to the Minority, the recent reduction in the producer price of cocoa will have serious consequences for cocoa farmers and their families.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah added, “… Respectfully, we ask the president to relieve the COCOBOD Board CEO of his responsibilities at this point in time.”
“The NDC government should absorb the cost of what they have done and protect the cocoa farmer and restore at least the GH¢3,625 that they promised. This GH¢2,800 or so that they are promising is totally unacceptable.
“Already, we are receiving messages from cocoa farmers who say that if this is what is going to happen, they are going to demonstrate in a number of days. And if they do, we will join them on the streets to do this demonstration,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the minority demands follow the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who has announced a revised cocoa price of 64kg cocoa bag from GHS 3,625 to GHS 2,587 for the remainder of the 2025/2026 season.
According to Ato Forson, the decision comes after the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC), under his chairmanship, convened earlier in the day to assess the challenges facing the Cocoa sector.
Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, February 12, Dr Forson disclosed, “The PPRC has recommended that the farmer be paid 90% of the achieved gross fob of USD 4,200 per tonne”.
He added that the committee set the new producer price at GH₵41,392 per tonne, equivalent to GH₵2,587 per bag, effective immediately.
“As a result of that, the PPRC thereby announces that effective today, Thursday, 12th February, 2026, the new producer price for the remainder of the 2025, 2026 crop season will now be GH 41, 392 per tonne and 2,587 per bag,” he noted.
“This measure is necessary to enable the expedited payment of farmers and to guarantee the sustainability of our cocoa industry,” he said.
Watch the video below:
'Reducing the cocoa producer price by 28.6% amounts to a haircut for nearly one million Ghanaian cocoa farmers, impacting them and their dependants.'
— ChannelOne TV (@Channel1TVGHA) February 12, 2026
— Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, MP for Ofoase Ayirebi
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