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Cocoa farmers nationwide are planning a countrywide protest next week regarding unpaid funds owed by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for cocoa beans provided since November 2025.
Farmers report that prolonged payment delays have thrown them into significant financial difficulty, hindering their capacity to meet essential needs, such as healthcare and school expenses.
In an interview with media, Francis Teinor, President of the Mankrong Cocoa Cooperative Farmers Association, called on COCOBOD and government officials to promptly resolve the outstanding payments to prevent interruptions in the cocoa industry.
“It is really affecting farmers, some are sick and want to seek medication, but they don’t have money to go to the hospital. Do you want them to die? School has reopened and parents want to pay fees.
“We cannot also keep the cocoa because farmers don’t have the storage facilities.
“As I speak, it’s been about six weeks, no money for cocoa farmers. This is seriously affecting the sector. If the COCOBOD CEO does not do anything about it, he should expect something ugly from next week. Farmers are not happy, if he is not careful, we will be on the streets next week,” he stated.
The government, in October 2025, set its farmgate price at 58,000 cedis per metric tonne, selling at approximately 3,228 cedis per 64-kilogramme.
But the price adjustment came with a new cocoa financing regime. COCOBOD announced that no syndicated loans were secured for the 2025/26 crop season.
The reworked cocoa financing system saw farmers sell beans to licensed buying companies, which then sell to COCOBOD and through its marketing arm, COCOBOD sells the cocoa to international buyers.
The arrears have seen many licensed buying companies operating under COCOBOD halt purchases.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
