President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a 63.6% increase in the producer price of cocoa from GHC12,800 per metric tonne (GHC800 per bag) to GHC20,943 per metric tonne.
The farmers will now be paid GHC1,308.99 for every 64-kilogram bag of cocoa beans sold to licensed buying companies.
Speaking on Saturday, 9 September 2023 at Tepa in the Ashanti Region, President Akufo-Addo said the new price was the highest paid to farmers anywhere in West Africa in over 50 years.
The price rise comes as cocoa futures hit 46-year highs in response to concerns over tight channels of supply from West Africa, the region where roughly 70% of the global supply of all cocoa the main ingredient in chocolate is sourced.
The new rate is expected to take effect immediately for the 2023/24 crop season.
The improved price is expected to give a boost to production, incentivise rural development and reduce cocoa smuggling.
There are over 800,000 cocoa farming households in Ghana, the second largest producer of cocoa in the world after Côte d’Ivoire.