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The government has increased the price of cocoa beans paid to cocoa farmers at the farm gate to GH¢48,000 per tonne for the 2024/2025 cocoa crop season, with a target to purchase about 650,000 tonnes.
The increment from last season’s GH¢20,928 per tonne translates into GH¢3,000 per 64-kilogramme (kg) bag.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, who announced this at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said the 2024/25 price, margins, rates and fees took effect from yesterday.
“On an inter-season basis, it (the producer price) has been increased, or GH¢1,308 per 64Kg bag at the opening of 2023/24 season to GH¢48,000 per tonne or GH¢3,000 per 64Kg bag,” he stated.
“This is an unprecedented increase of 129.36 per cent from last year’s announced figure which was done by the President at Tepa,” Dr Acheampong added.
Present at the press conference were the Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahene Aidoo; the Chairman of the Board of Directors of COCOBOD, Peter Mac Manu, and the Executive Secretary of the Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, Alex Assanvo.
The minister of Food and Agriculture explained that between the 2023/2024 season and now, there had been some increases which saw the price of the beans increase from the first announcement in Tepa.
Dr Acheampong gave an assurance that COCOBOD was positioned financially to buy the crops from farmers and trade same, stressing that neither the government nor COCOBOD had reported that it had no money to purchase cocoa beans from the farms.
The world market price of cocoa has witnessed the highest levels of volatility over the past 12 months. Spot prices moved from around $2,000 a tonne in March 2023, peaked at $12,072 per tonne in February 2024 before dropping significantly to $7,960 tonne in September 2024.
On the futures market, where Ghana has traded for over 50 years, Dr Acheampong said prices moved from $2,200 in March 2023 to over $10,000 in February 2024 before dropping significantly to $6,246 in September 2024.
The government, in response to the rising cocoa prices on the international market, increased the farmgate price by 58 per cent from GH¢20,928 per tonne to GH¢33,120 per tonne in the middle of the 2023/24 season.
Dr Acheampong said the severe highs and lows of prices were indicative of a market and sector that required careful analysis before making any pricing decisions.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture said it was against that background that the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC) on cocoa, agreed last Tuesday on the producer price of cocoa and other rates and fees for the 2024/2025 crop season.
Dr Acheampong said the vision of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was for the cocoa industry to remain robust, resilient and sustainable for the present and future generations.
“This appreciable increment in the producer price of cocoa signifies government’s commitment to improve the sector and the livelihoods of the Ghanaian cocoa farmer,” the minister emphasised.
Dr Acheampong said the government was praying that cocoa would escape the dry spell in the country as its biology was different from maize.
“So, we have set our target squarely and firmly to about 650,000 tonnes and we are hoping that with the implementation of our agronomic practices, we are able to increase that 650,000 that we have targeted,” the Food and Agriculture Minister stated.
He said the target was consistent with what was achieved in 2021/2022.
Dr Acheampong expressed the hope that notwithstanding the “el nino” weather condition, “we would bounce back strongly to the 650,000 before we can change the trajectory to higher numbers”.
The minister said the calculations were based on research done on all the cocoa farms, which helped them to arrive at a conservative 650,000 tonne.
The Food and Agriculture Minister gave an assurance that the government would continue to employ the tools that would help the country to increase the cocoa production numbers.
