The government of Ghana has failed to announce a new cocoa farmgate price for the 2022/2023 crop season which begun today October 1, 2022.

This is coming after Ivory Coast increased the fixed farmgate price paid to cocoa farmers by over 9% to 900 CFA francs ($1.33) per kilogramme, from 825 CFA francs for the main crop of the 2022/2023 season

Addressing a rally of cocoa farmers and other players within the value chain at Suhum in the Eastern region, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong Addo, expressed regret that the government’s Producer Price Review Committee was yet to agree on a new price for the season which will end in September 2023.

The cocoa farmers at the rally, report say, expressed unhappiness, amidst boos to register their displeasure.

However, the Deputy Minister assured that the committee was working assiduously to coclude on a new price that will be accepted by all stakeholders.

He is optimistic the price will be announced in the coming week or soon.

The last time the government increased the cocoa farmgate price was in 2020, when the price went up by 28%, from ¢515 to ¢600 per bag.

This was on the back of the implementation of the Living Income Differential, a price mechanism to eliminate farmer poverty.

Increase Producer Price of cocoa to ¢838 to alleviate farmers plight – GCCP

But the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), an independent campaign and advocacy platform for civil society actors in the cocoa sector wants Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to announce an increase in the Producer Price of Cocoa to ¢838 from the the current ¢660 a bag for the 2022/2023 crop season.

According to the group, its working assumption of the Producer Price Review Committee of COCOBOD, which aims at ensuring that farm gate price is pegged at a minimum of 70% of the net Free on Board (FoB) price shows that farmers should be receiving a minimum of ¢838 which translates into $98 per bag of the 62.5 kilogramme of cocoa beans.

Meanwhile, the global cocoa market recorded a supply deficit in the 2021/2022 season, which ended on September 30, largely due to strong winds and lack of rain in the world’s top two producers Ivory Coast and Ghana.