Minority Demands Immediate Payment to Cocoa Farmers, Warns of Looming Crisis in Cocoa Industry
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has issued a strong call to the government and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to immediately pay cocoa farmers for all cocoa beans sold, warning that continued delays threaten to plunge the cocoa industry back into an era of despair, declining productivity, and farmer disillusionment.
The caucus also demanded a public apology from both the government and COCOBOD for what it described as a “gross dereliction of duty,” following months of delayed payments to cocoa farmers across the country.
In addition, the Minority called on COCOBOD to urgently reimburse Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) an outstanding GH¢10 billion for cocoa already purchased and delivered. It stressed that prompt settlement of both outstanding and future payments was critical to preventing a complete breakdown of trust within the cocoa value chain.
“We demand that our cherished cocoa farmers are treated with dignity and respect,” the caucus said. “What is happening now is unacceptable and deeply damaging to the industry.”
“Cocoa Farmers Are Not Beggars”
Speaking on behalf of the Minority, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, underscored that prompt payment to cocoa farmers was not a privilege but a legal and moral obligation.
“Cocoa farmers are not beggars,” Dr Opoku said. “Paying them promptly for their produce is not a favour—it is an obligation.”
Dr Opoku, who is also the Member of Parliament for Offinso South, made these remarks ahead of a scheduled meeting of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee to examine the persistent issue of delayed payments to cocoa farmers.
He said the Minority had observed with grave concern the increasingly precarious state of Ghana’s cocoa industry, which remains a critical pillar of the national economy and a major source of foreign exchange earnings.
LBCs Unable to Pay Farmers
According to Dr Opoku, Licensed Buying Companies have been unable to pay farmers for cocoa beans sold since November 2025, a situation he said was directly linked to COCOBOD’s failure to reimburse the LBCs for cocoa already delivered.
He stressed that the LBCs should not be blamed for the crisis, as they had already expended significant resources purchasing cocoa from farmers and delivering it to COCOBOD without receiving repayment.
“The money they used to buy cocoa has been locked up,” he explained. “Without reimbursement, the LBCs cannot continue to finance purchases.”
As a result, Dr Opoku said many LBCs had stopped advancing funds to the field, forcing farmers into difficult and humiliating choices—selling their cocoa on credit, accepting heavy discounts, or returning home with unsold produce.
“This situation portends dire consequences for the cocoa industry and for the national economy, given the central role cocoa plays in Ghana,” he warned.
COCOBOD and Government to Blame
The Minority squarely blamed COCOBOD and the government for the crisis, accusing them of failing to honour financial commitments to the LBCs and, by extension, cocoa farmers.
Dr Opoku revealed that many LBCs had borrowed heavily from commercial banks and off-taker traders to pre-finance cocoa purchases at the start of the season. However, COCOBOD now owed these companies more than GH¢10 billion for cocoa already taken over, represented by defaulted Cocoa Taken-Over Receipts (CTORs).
“To continue purchasing cocoa under these circumstances would only worsen the problem,” he said. “It would mean the accumulation of unpaid CTORs and a dangerous escalation of COCOBOD’s indebtedness.”
Claims of Released Funds Described as “Hoax”
Dr Opoku also took issue with a recent press release from COCOBOD’s Public Affairs Department, which suggested that sufficient funds had been released to LBCs to enable continued cocoa purchases.
He dismissed those claims as misleading.
“That statement was a hoax,” he said. “The reality on the ground is that farmers have not been paid for cocoa sold since November last year.”
He further accused the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of presiding over the payment delays, adding that the situation had left thousands of cocoa farmers in severe distress.
“For farmers who depend entirely on cocoa as their source of livelihood, the past three months have been extremely difficult,” he said.
Farmers Pushed Into Hardship
Dr Opoku painted a grim picture of life in cocoa-growing communities, where delayed payments have forced some farmers to sell their cocoa at steep discounts just to survive.
“Through no fault of their own, cocoa farmers now find themselves trapped in a financial quagmire,” he said.
He explained that farmers had endured harsh weather conditions, invested heavily in pest and disease control, laboured through harvesting, and delivered their produce in good faith—only to be left unpaid for months.
“Some are struggling to feed their families,” he said. “Others cannot reinvest in their farms, threatening the sustainability of the cocoa sector itself.”
“Is This the Reset?”
Dr Opoku questioned whether the non-payment of cocoa farmers aligned with the government’s stated objective of resetting or revitalising the cocoa industry.
“Is this what is meant by resetting or reversing the cocoa sector?” he asked. “Denying farmers their income after months of hard work?”
He described the situation as not only outrageous but exploitative, accusing the government of effectively ripping off cocoa farmers and undermining their livelihoods.
“This is the least treatment our cocoa farmers ever expected from President Mahama and his NDC government,” he said.
Call for Immediate Action
The Minority concluded by reiterating its demands for urgent action to prevent further deterioration of the cocoa sector. These include:
-
Immediate payment to all cocoa farmers for cocoa already sold
-
Reimbursement of the GH¢10 billion owed to LBCs
-
Prompt settlement of all future deliveries
-
A formal apology to farmers for the hardship caused
Failure to act swiftly, the caucus warned, risks eroding farmer confidence, encouraging smuggling, and reversing decades of progress in Ghana’s cocoa industry.
“As a nation, we cannot afford to gamble with cocoa,” Dr Opoku said. “When cocoa fa
