The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has made a 58.26 per cent increase in farmgate prices for cocoa beans, setting the price at GHS33,120 cedis per ton for the upcoming 2023/2024 season.
The decision was made to share the benefits of the rising global cocoa prices which according to COCOBOD will deter the smuggling of cocoa beans.
Meanwhile, this has led to frustrations among Cocoa farmers across Ghana after the new prices were announced.
Despite COCOBOD’s intentions, the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association has strongly opposed the price hike, deeming it insufficient.
To throw more light on the issue, the President of the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association, Stephenson Anane Boateng bemoaned that cocoa farmers are maltreated.
He says the global price of cocoa has reached $10,000 per metric equivalent to over GHS9,000 in local currency.
“Cocoa has been raised globally to $10,000 per metric ton. So, if you compare and convert to our currency, it is running into over GH¢9,000. We totally disagree with them. We pay our labour, we buy inputs for the farm, and then we also pay ourselves.”
Boateng emphasized that farmers are left with only GHS600 while COCOBOD retains GHS7,000 after factoring in labour costs, farm inputs and personal earnings.
This he describes as an insult while questioning the justification for COCOBOD’s larger share of the profits.
“So in a nutshell, we get only GH¢600 for that while COCOBOD also gets GH¢7,000. So what work did COCOBOD do and give us that money? It’s an insult!” he stated
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Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
