- The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged government’s producer price of GH¢2,650 per 64-kilogramme bag of cocoa for the 2026/27 season, describing it as inadequate, deceptive and in breach of the law.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, September 27, the party said the new price announced on Friday, September 25, 2026, represents a marginal increase of GH¢63, or 2.4 percent, over the GH¢2,587 per bag that prevailed at the close of the 2025/26 season.
According to the NPP, the increase is not only insignificant but also falls below the statutory minimum prescribed under the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 2026 (Act 1182). The party cited provisions in the Act which require government to pay cocoa farmers not less than 70 percent of the Gross Free-on-Board (FOB) price realised by COCOBOD for the season.
Government has maintained that the GH¢2,650 price represents 71.18 percent of the Gross FOB price, and therefore complies with the law. But the NPP has disputed the computation, insisting the figures underpinning the announcement lack transparency and must be subjected to independent scrutiny.
“The figures used to arrive at the announced price require greater transparency. This decision must be reviewed,” the party stated.
Beyond the legal argument, the NPP accused the government of abandoning promises made to cocoa farmers in the run-up to the 2024 general elections.
The party recalled that leading figures of the then-opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), including President John Dramani Mahama, Minister for Food and Agriculture Eric Opoku, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, toured cocoa-growing communities promising a producer price of GH¢6,000 per bag.
The NPP said farmers were told at the time that the prevailing GH¢3,100 per bag was exploitative and that they deserved at least 70 percent of the world market price.
The party said government’s pricing decisions since assuming office have fallen far short of that pledge, describing the situation as a betrayal of the trust of cocoa farmers who form the backbone of the economy.
