By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Ghana National Association of Cocoa Farmers (GNACOF) has described the 64 percent increase in the producer price of cocoa announced by the government earlier this week as woefully inadequate.
According to them, farmers will likely continue to smuggle cocoa to Ivory Coast, where prices are higher.
The 64% increment came after cocoa farmers intensified calls for an upward review of cocoa prices to prevent the prevalence of smuggling and the situation where cocoa farmers give out their lands to illegal miners.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, announced the 63.6% increase in the farm gate price of cocoa beans on September 9, 2023, from GH₵800 to GH₵1,308 per bag for the new cocoa season.
However, the President of GNACOF, Mr. Stephenson Anane Boateng, said that the government’s latest increase is still not enough to discourage smuggling.
The GNACOF President, reacting to the latest price increase, was of the view that the government needs to do more than it’s doing now to discourage smuggling, which is a major problem in the cocoa sector.
“The price in Ivory Coast is GH¢1,450 per bag, and if our government increases our cocoa price to GH¢1,308, then we are nowhere.
People will continue to smuggle their cocoa to other countries just because of the small differences in the price,” he noted.
Mr Boateng is therefore calling on the government to do more to address the root causes of smuggling, such as poverty and lack of access to affordable credit for cocoa farmers.