The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged the Mahama government’s decision to set the producer price of cocoa for the 2026/27 season at GH¢2,650 per 64-kilogramme bag.
According to the NPP, the price is inadequate and alleges that it falls below the statutory minimum prescribed by law.
In a press statement dated September 27, the NPP argued that the price is not merely inadequate under the Government’s own law; it is unlawful but falls below the statutory minimum set by the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 2026 (Act 1182), a law this same Government passed only weeks ago.
The NPP statement read, “During the 2024 election campaign, leading members of the then opposition NDC, among them the current Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku; the Minister for Finance, Hon. Dr Cassiel Ato Forson; the Minister for Health, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh; and His Excellency the President himself, toured the cocoa-growing areas and promised farmers GH¢6,000 per bag. Farmers were told that the GH¢3,100 per bag then being paid was exploitative, and that they deserved no less than 70 per cent of the world market price. Farmers placed their trust in those assurances and voted accordingly.
The record since then tells a different story. In October 2025, the Government announced a producer price of GH¢3,625 per bag for the 2025/26 season, far short of the GH¢6,000 it had promised. Four months later, in February 2026, it reduced that price to GH¢2,587 per bag. This cut of GH¢1,038 per bag, imposed in the middle of the crop year, was the first of its kind in the history of Ghana’s cocoa industry”.
The NPP further argued that the February 2026 price cut was arbitrary and unlawful because it emerged from an emergency Cabinet decision taken without consultation with farmers, Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) or any other stakeholder in the sector.
According to the NPP, the GH¢2,650 Does Not Satisfy Section 57 of Act 1182
They added, “Section 57 of the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 2026 (Act 1182) provides that “the producer price for a crop season shall not be less than 70% of the Gross Free-on-Board (FOB) price realised by the Cocoa Board for that crop season.” The Government asserts that GH¢2,650 represents 71.18 per cent of the Gross FOB price. For that to be true, COCOBOD’s realised Gross FOB price would have to be approximately US$5,180 per tonne. Yet it is a matter of public record that international cocoa prices over the past three months have ranged between US$5,500 and more than US$6,000 per tonne. It is also unclear whether COCOBOD has included in its computation the Living Income Differential (LID) of US$400 per tonne paid by buyers on Ghanaian cocoa”.
The NPP are since demanding, “ (a) Publish in full the computation underlying the GH¢2,650 producer price, including the realised Gross FOB price, the volumes and prices of forward contracts for the 2026/27 season, the treatment of the Living Income Differential, and the exchange rate applied;
(b) Review the producer price upward to bring it into compliance with Section 57 of Act 1182;
(c) Pay, without further delay, the amounts withheld from farmers as a result of the February 2026 price reduction;
(d) Settle all outstanding arrears owed to farmers and LBCs for the 2025/26 crop year; and
(e) Set out a credible financing plan guaranteeing prompt payment for all cocoa purchased in the 2026/27 season”.
The NPP statement comes on the heels of the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Randy Abbey, announcing that the government has increased the producer price of cocoa from GH¢41,392 to GH¢42,400 per tonne for the 2026/2027 crop season.
The increase in the producer price of cocoa gives farmers a GH¢1,008 increase over the previous season.
Also, the new price translates into GH¢2,650 for a 64-kilogramme bag of cocoa and represents 71.18 per cent of the realised gross free-on-board (FOB) price.
Ransford Abbey disclosed that the new producer price in Accra on Friday (Sept 25) as he declared the 2026/2027 cocoa season open.
He revealed that the new price had been agreed following consultations among COCOBOD, the Ministry of Finance, cocoa farmers and stakeholders represented by the Chamber of Cocoa Marketers.
The cocoa price adjustment comes as the cocoa sector undergoes reforms aimed at improving the financial sustainability of COCOBOD while protecting the incomes of cocoa farmers.
Also, the new pricing framework follows the passage of the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 2026, which provides for an automatic adjustment mechanism linked to international cocoa prices, exchange rates, and other relevant factors, but guarantees farmers receive at least 70 per cent of the gross FOB price.
See the statement below:
@ghnow_ A disagreement reportedly broke out between passengers, a trotro driver and his mate after the mate allegedly demanded fares above the 8% increase announced by transport unions. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ A disagreement reportedly broke out between passengers, a trotro driver and his mate after the mate allegedly demanded fares above the 8% increase announced by transport unions. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
