Accra-Ghana, Sept. 6, GNA – The Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP) has projected a minimum of a 55 to 65 per cent hike in farm-gate cocoa prices for the 2023/2024 cocoa season.
The Organisation said it expected cocoa farmers to receive no less than GHS22,080 per tonne of cocoa beans, which equates to a minimum of GHS1,380 for each bag of cocoa beans.
The farm-gate price of cocoa was increased by 21 per cent for the 2022/2023 crop year – from GHS660 to GHS800 per bag.
At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, ahead of the announcement of the new price for the upcoming cocoa season, Mrs Leticia Adu-Yanky, a member of the GCCP, said its estimations were based on the minimum projected figures and the assumption that farmers would receive minimum 100 per cent of Living Income Differential (LID).
“We arrived at this modest expectation taking note of the prevailing international market dynamics which has led to over 35 per cent increment in the ICCO world cocoa market price as well as the challenges posed by the unstable Ghanaian Cedi, high inflation, high cost of labour and the need for farmers to be paid adequate and commensurate prices for their efforts,” she said.
The GCCP said its estimates “are very conservative” and expected the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to meet the pricing projections “with ease.”
The Organisation also projected that the net country cocoa selling price (producer price) would be not less than $3,146.
The GCCP said one of the main challenges that confronted the cocoa sector was the smuggling of cocoa beans to neighbouring countries, including Togo.
The Organisation observed that due to the increment in international cocoa market price, neighbouring countries that used the liberalised cocoa marketing approach increased their farm-gate prices, which attracted farmers.
“At some point this year, a bag of cocoa was selling in Togo at GHS1, 500 equivalent (twice what Ghanaians were being paid) which fuelled cocoa smuggling – as some farmers were offered 30-40 per cent beyond the prevailing market price in Ghana,” Mrs Adu-Yanky said.
She urged Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire to work tirelessly to bring parity in cocoa pricing across the sub-region.
The GCCP also expressed concern over the sale of cocoa farms to illegal miners and cautioned that the practice threatened the sustainability of the cocoa industry.
It appealed to the Government to make the cocoa sector competitive to encourage farmers to cultivate and expand their cocoa farms.
“The solution is to make the cocoa industry competitive by increasing farm-gate price to levels that are commensurate of the work of farmers put into producing cocoa beans,” Mr Adu-Yanky said.
