General NewsNews

Ghana’s cocoa producer price pegged at GH¢800 for 2022/23 cocoa season

Ghana has increased its cocoa producer price from GHS660 to GHS800 per bag (GHS12,800 per tonne) for its 2022/23 crop, said Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture in Accra, on Wednesday. The new farmgate price which represents a 21% enhancement of the 2021/22 rate takes effect Friday, 7 October 2022.

The announcement comes after Ghana’s neighbour Ivory Coast raised its cocoa producer price by 9% from 825CFA to 900CFA ($1.33) per kilogram last Friday, 30 September 2022. The just-ended cocoa year was projected by the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) to record a 230,000-tonne global supply deficit, driven mainly by climate change-induced drought and strong winds in West Africa.

Ghana’s cocoa sector regulator Cocobod earlier said its data indicated a 34 per cent slump in output for the first six months of the 2021/22 season compared to the same period the previous year.

According to the Board, a double whammy of drought and illegal gold mining has forced it to revise downward its 850,000MT production target for the year to 650,000MT, with an estimated loss of $350 million in revenue projections. More than 19,000 hectares of vibrant cocoa farms are confirmed to have been destroyed by illegal gold mining (galamsey) activities, which is feared to worsen as cocoa farmers frustrated by low prices sell out farmlands.

A prevailing economic crisis in the West African country coupled with fertilizer shortages caused by the Russian-Ukraine war is predicted to negatively impact the crop output 2022/23 season.

Meanwhile, ahead of the announcement a cross-section of Ghanaian cocoa farmers put up a spirited demand for better prices citing the high cost of living, input price hikes and the depreciation of the local currency — the Ghana Cedi.

Story by Nana Ama Nyamekye/Ahotoronline

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button