CSO pushes for cocoa farm gate price increment

The Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), an advocacy platform for fair trade, is demanding a minimum of a 65 per cent upward adjustment in cocoa farm gate prices for the 2024/2025 cocoa season.

Specifically, the organisation anticipates that farmers should receive no less than GH¢57,320 per tonne of cocoa beans which translates to a minimum of GH¢3,583 per bag.

The GCCP indicated that a price increase could help mitigate some of the financial challenges faced by cocoa farmers, including the impact of inflation, rising input costs and the effects of global market fluctuations.

The projection underscores the ongoing efforts within the country to secure better pricing for cocoa farmers and ensure that they benefit more equitably from their contributions to the industry.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, ahead of the announcement of the new price for the upcoming cocoa season, a member of the group, Francis Teinor, stated that based on the current global, the 65 to 75 increment in the farm gate price of cocoa for the 2024/2025 season was fair. 

Fair compensation

While government had been consistent in upward adjustments of farm-gate prices over the years, he said the systemic cocoa marketing flaws such as forward sales of beans, over-bloated COCOBOD administrative and overhead costs had prevented farmers from realising the full benefit of their work.

“Moving forward, it is  crucial that pricing strategies and support systems be realigned to ensure that farmers are fairly compensated for their hard work,” Mr Teinor said.

To ensure that local cocoa farmers remained motivated and competitive in the sub-region, he proposed that government institutionalise the upward mid-term revision of farm gate prices due to the volatile nature of the currency and to also minimise cross-border smuggling of cocoa beans mid season.

Cocoa programmes

He applauded  COCOBOD for steps taken to enhance cocoa production through rehabilitation of diseased farms, pruning, mass spraying and fertiliser subsidy among others.

He, however, drew its attention to challenges in those “well-intended programmes” that were negating the gains.

“There have been reports of nepotism and politicisation in the implementation of these programmes which has led to apathy and blatant sabotage of the programme in some communities across the country,” he said.

He also commended the government for finally taking the decision to minimise dependency on foreign financial instruments such as syndication of foreign loans for the purchase of cocoa beans and rather explore a more innovative and logical approach of letting cocoa traders and exporters pre-finance the purchasing of cocoa beans.

“We wish to, however, draw the attention of government to the possibility of collapsing the local licence buying companies that might not have big brothers to pre-finance their purchase.

The collapse of these local LBCs shall greatly destabilise the downstream cocoa supply chain and spell doom for the ordinary cocoa farmers that depend on these buyers for their survival,” he said.

About the GCCP

The GCCP is an independent campaign and advocacy platform comprised of civil society actors in the cocoa sector, including NGOs, farmer associations and community organisations.

Its mission is to advocate and influence cocoa sector policies to improve the livelihoods of farmers across Ghana.