The site of a rice farm plagued by drought in the Volta Region.
The Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body (GRIB) has revealed that rice production in the Volta Region of Ghana faces bleak consequences this year due to ongoing drought conditions which are disrupting production in some parts of the Region.
According to the body, farmers in the Akatsi North and South districts in the Volta Region have been gravely affected by poor rainfall patterns and are likely to lose their entire output for the 2021/2022 season.
“In Ketu South alone, over 700 hectares of rice have been lost to the drought. “The problem covers several areas including Kpoglu, Avalavi, Klenomadi and Avie in Ketu North, Akatsi in Akatsi South, Tongu Districts, Afadzato South District and Hohoe Municipal areas,” the President said.
This comes as a blow to the sector, which is an attempt to wean the country off rice importation by achieving self-sufficiency in production by 2025.
As if that is not enough, the affected farmers will have to wait till next year before they can earn some income.
Speaking to the reporter, President of GRIB Nana Agyei Ayeh II said some members of the farmers reached out to him to ascertain the situation and find a solution to the looming danger.
The President, together with some of the officials of the John A. Kufuor Foundation paid a working visit to the farms, and on their observation, several hectares of rice under cultivation are lost due to climate change and low levels of rainfall in these communities.
The woes of the farmers are further exacerbated by the huge investments they have already made in land preparation, seeds, and fertilizer.
However, the provisional production figures by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) indicate that about 973, 000 metric tonnes of rice were produced in Ghana in 2020. But, this figure could be hard to match in 2021 if the current situation persists.
Nana Agyei Ayeh II revealed that the existing dam structure which was built to harvest water to irrigate the farmlands is in a dire state of disrepair, leaving farmers at the mercy of the harsh weather conditions.
“We cannot continue with rain-fed agriculture. As you can see, this year, farmers have lost their investments simply because the rains failed them.
We would like to appeal to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to provide dugouts for these areas. These will aid in water conservations for the purposes of irrigation in such times like what we facing now” he added.
Farmers’ Day is a day set aside by the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to reward the intrepid farmers who have toiled to provide food for Ghanaians.
This year marks the 42nd of the Farmers’ Day Celebration. To ensure absolute inclusion the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is inviting Corporate Ghana, Development partners, Donor Agencies, Financial Institutions, Agribusinesses and other key stakeholders to the official launch.
The launch will be held at the forecourt of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Tuesday 30th June, 2026 at 10:00am.
In a press release issued by the Ministry, the Ministry will unveil the theme for the 42nd edition, announce the host region, outline the programme of activities and provide details on award categories and other key arrangements.
According to the release, the launch will highlight sponsorship and partnership opportunities for interested organisations or stakeholders who are willing to support.
As Ghana continues to pursue sustainable agricultural growth, food security, job creation and value addition, the press release reads the Ministry recognizes the important role played by the private sector and development partners.
“Your support does not only honor the efforts of farmers and value chain actors but also contributes to building a stronger and more resilient agricultural sector”, the release states.
The Ministry urges all organisations and partners to partake in the launch and take advantage of the opportunities for engagement and partnership.
The Ministry calls all to celebrate both the individuals and institutions whose efforts continue to feed the nation and drive agricultural transformation in Ghana.
Seven members out of nine have been sworn in as members of the National Seed Council. The members appointed by the President of the Republic of Ghana have been sworn in by the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. John Dumelo.
During the inauguration, the Hon. Dumelo charged the members to be dedicated and committed to serving the nation, Ghana, for the farmers to get good seeds.
He mentioned that with good fertilizers, irrigation, and mechanisation, if the seeds are not good, the farmers would work in vain; hence, seed is critical to the whole agricultural value chain.
“If you look at the Seed situation in Ghana, you will realise that we are trying as much as possible to reduce Seed importation and to certify home-grown Ghanaian seeds, and that is where the Council comes in, specifically”, he reiterated Ghana’s position on seed development.
Hon. John Dumelo, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, swearing in the members of the National Seed Council.
He urged the council members to expedite the seed application to expedite the certification process for the home-grown Ghanaian companies to the market.
With government intervention like the farmer service centres and the other policies to transform the agriculture sector, seed is key, and with the right seed, Ghana’s agriculture would be in the right direction.
He commended the members for taking it upon themselves to work assiduously to enhance good-quality seeds for the farmers.
The Chairman of the National Seed Council, Alhaji Abubakari Mumuni, expressed the members’ gratitude to President John Dramani Mahama for the opportunity to serve on the National Seed Council.
He mentioned that the Council would work closely with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to eliminate all infiltrated seeds in the system to get the certified seeds for the country.
He assured of their dedication and readiness to work hard to live up to the expectation.
Ghana’s next major export opportunity may not come from another gold mine, oil field or traditional commodity boom. It may come from avocado.
Avocado offers Ghana more than a farming opportunity. It offers a test of whether the country has finally learned how to turn raw production into industrial wealth.
The old commodity trap
For decades, Ghana has produced raw commodities while other countries captured the greater value through processing, branding, manufacturing and global distribution. Cocoa remains the clearest example. Ghana produces one of the world’s most important cocoa beans, yet the larger value in chocolate, beverages, cosmetics and processed cocoa products is created elsewhere.
Gold, timber and crude oil have followed a similar pattern. Ghana produces. Others refine. Others package. Others brand. Others earn the bigger margins.
Breaking the cycle
Avocado gives Ghana a chance to break that cycle — but only if the country treats it as an industrial value chain, not just another farming activity.
The €2 billion value chain and job opportunity
With about 150,000 acres under structured commercial cultivation, Ghana’s avocado value chain could generate between €1.5 billion and €2 billion annually and this could create more than 150000 direct and indirect jobs across farming, nurseries, irrigation, harvest, processing, exports and support services. That would also place avocado among the country most important non-traditional export opportunities, with the potential to create jobs, support factories, attract investment and strengthen foreign exchange earnings.
A 35-YEAR REVENUE COMPARISON
A well-managed cocoa investment may generate annual revenue of about $4,000 to $7,000, with a 35-year revenue potential of roughly $140,000 to $245,000. Cocoa will remain central to Ghana’s economy, but its earnings are still heavily exposed to global commodity prices and limited local value addition.
Oil palm offers stronger industrial use. A commercial oil palm investment may generate about $6,000 to $10,000 annually, with lifetime revenue of about $150,000 to $300,000 over a productive life of 25 to 30 years.
Residential real estate, often regarded as a safe investment, also tells an interesting story. A $100,000 residential property earning about $300 a month would generate about $3,600 a year and roughly $126,000 over 35 years, before maintenance, taxes, repairs and vacancy costs. Avocado changes the comparison.
A commercial avocado orchard supported by modern production systems could generate annual revenue of about $15,000 to $30,000, with lifetime revenue potential of about $525,000 to $1.05 million over 35 years.
That means avocado could generate several times the long-term cash flow of a comparable rental property, outperform cocoa and oil palm on revenue potential, and still support a wider industrial economy beyond the farm.
The point is not that Ghana should abandon cocoa, oil palm or real estate. Each has a place in wealth creation. The point is that avocado deserves serious national attention because it can combine what many other assets do separately
FEED THE INDUSTRIES
Avocado can generate farm income, processing activity, factory jobs, export revenue, cosmetic inputs, health products, animal feed, branded goods and long-term rural wealth. That is why the fruit itself is not the prize.
The real prize is the value chain.
Fresh avocado exports may open the market, but they should not become the final ambition. Ghana must not build another raw commodity story around avocado. If the country only exports fresh fruits for others to process, package and brand, it will repeat the same mistake it made with cocoa and other commodities.
The stronger opportunity lies in processing. Avocado farms must feed factories. Those factories must produce premium avocado oil, skincare ingredients, food products, nutraceutical inputs, animal feed and export-ready brands for regional and international markets.
There is also room for new financing models, including tree-crop investment platforms and tokenisation, to allow institutional investors, the diaspora and retail investors to participate in productive agricultural assets.
If properly organized, avocado can become the anchor of a wider exotic crops economy built around macadamia, citrus, coconut, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, dragon fruit, cashew and other high-value crops. Over the next 10 to 15 years, such an economy could generate €3 billion to €4.5 billion annually in export revenues and support hundreds of thousands of jobs.
That would make exotic crops a serious economic pillar for Ghana.
BEYOND AGRICULTURE
Avocado is not simply an agricultural opportunity. It is an industrial opportunity. It is an export opportunity. It is a youth employment opportunity. It is a rural transformation opportunity. Most importantly, it is an opportunity for Ghana to stop exporting potential and start exporting value.
Ghana has enough examples of raw commodity regret.
Agribusiness entrepreneur and founder of Ideal Providence Farms, Georgina Koomson has advised young people interested in agriculture to approach the sector with innovation, strategic planning and patience, stressing that farming extends far beyond traditional perceptions of manual labour.
Speaking on Joy-Agri Business Month, Georgina Koomson noted that one of the first decisions aspiring farmers must make is identifying the specific area of agriculture they intend to venture into.
“You have to know first what you want to grow because farming is big and farming is not just tilling the land,” she said.
According to her, agriculture offers a wide range of opportunities, and success in the sector depends largely on understanding the value chain and choosing the right niche.
She explained that prospective farmers must study the geographical areas most suitable for particular crops, since environmental conditions significantly influence productivity.
“You have to know the area that you want to produce because each area has a specific crop that works well there,” she stated.
Ms. Koomson also challenged the widespread notion that farming simply involves clearing weeds and cultivating land, insisting that modern agriculture demands creativity and business acumen.
“You have to be innovative, you have to have proper branding. People think farming is just weeding. No, it goes beyond that,” she emphasised.
The agribusiness entrepreneur further encouraged young entrants into the agricultural sector to begin on a manageable scale rather than investing heavily from the onset.
“I always tell them that start small and expand,” she said.
While acknowledging that entrepreneurs often develop ambitious business projections, she cautioned that reality may not always align with expectations.
“They might have projections and sometimes you might have very good projections and it doesn’t work,” she added.
Georgina Koomson’s remarks highlight the growing call for a shift in the perception of agriculture from subsistence activity to a modern, innovation-driven business capable of creating sustainable livelihoods and transforming economies.
The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) on it fifth anniversary has pledged to transform Ghana’s oil palm industry from smallholder farms into processing giants.
The bank said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that a crop cultivated in the country for generations became a major driver of industrial growth, job creation and exports, while increasing the production and consumption of locally grown and processed palm oil.
Speaking at the media launch in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of DBG, Professor Randolph Nsor-Ambala, said the bank’s work was anchored on promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
“At DBG, we are focused on enabling businesses to grow, scale up and contribute meaningfully to Ghana’s economic transformation. Our journey over the past five years reflects a strong commitment to impact and partnership”, he said.
Prof. Nsor-Ambala noted that the bank continued to collaborate with financial institutions and development partners to expand access to credit, particularly for underserved segments of the economy.
As part of its forward strategy, he said DBG would deepen its reach, strengthen partnerships and scale up its impact in priority sectors.
“We will double down on women. More than half of everything we have financed has reached businesses led by women, and we are nowhere near done. The years ahead will bring financing deliberately designed around women entrepreneurs.
“We will also push far beyond this capital city. Development that stops at the edge of Accra is development postponed, and we intend to see our financing at work in all 16 regions of Ghana,” he stated.
Prof. Nsor-Ambala said the bank would continue to work with its development partners to finance Ghana’s green transition and support clean energy and climate-smart industries.
Since its establishment in November 2021, he said DBG had played a pivotal role in addressing long-standing financing gaps by providing long-term funding to participating financial institutions (PFIs), enabling increased lending to key sectors of the economy and fostering sustainable development.
Over the past five years, Prof. Nsor-Ambala indicated that the bank had supported businesses in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and services, contributing to job creation, improved productivity and economic resilience.
According to him, DBG had so far invested GH¢2.5 billion in 997 enterprises across the country through 21 participating financial institutions.
Drawing parallels with successful development banks around the world, Prof Nsor-Ambala said Germany established KfW in 1948 to help rebuild the country after the devastation of war by financing homes, factories and power infrastructure.
“Nearly 80 years later, KfW has become one of the largest development banks in the world and today stands as a partner behind this institution,” he said.
He also cited the example of Singapore, which established the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) in 1968 to support its industrialisation agenda, indicating that “Today, the world knows it simply as DBS, the largest bank in Southeast Asia and one of the most respected banks globally.”
“We intend to walk the same road. Our ambition is to complete each assignment and take on more challenging responsibilities until Ghana has a banking system that finances development as a matter of course in every region and for every serious enterprise,” he said.
Leveraging the value addition of raw materials is the key to economic development and employability. Agro-processing is a vital economic driver in Ghana, essential for reducing post-harvest losses, increasing nutritional value, creating sustainable employment, and meeting growing demands for regional export.
To appreciate the Ghanaian agro-processing company contributing to economic growth and employability, the Minister of Food and Agriculture paid a working visit to P&A African Foods International Limited.
During the visit, Hon. Eric Opoku addressed the need to patronise locally processed agro-foods as the catalyst for youth employment and economic growth.
He mentioned that patronising the locally produced products helps to upscale production, increase the revenue of the local processor, and employ more hands in the production, thereby creating both direct and indirect employment for the youth in the country.
“If you don’t patronize what is produced in Ghana, you are contributing to the exploitation of jobs from Ghana to the outside world”, he added.
According to the Minister, Ghana’s annual import bill is in the region of $3billion; that means Ghana spends $ 3 billion every year to import food commodities into Ghana. That $3 billion goes outside Ghana to create jobs for the people in other countries.
To mitigate imports and retain the huge sums of money in Ghana’s economy, Ghanaians must develop a taste for locally produced goods and stop comparing locally produced goods to foreign goods.
He noted that price comparison forms the basis for Ghanaians opting for foreign products against locally produced products.
“The prices of our locally produced products are a bit higher than those of imported products; this is due to our production volume. We produce small quantities at a high cost due to demand. The demand for locally produced products is lower, making the products very expensive on the market to cover production costs.
If we want our products to be as cheap as the imported ones, let’s buy more irrespective of the price for the companies to produce more, and with more production, the production cost would be less, making the products cheap”, he admonished.
Ghana needs at least ¢1.5 billion to build a meaningful national food reserve system, far above the ¢300 million currently available to the National Food Buffer Stock Company, its CEO, George Abradu-Otoo, has said.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he said the amount allocated so far is inadequate for large-scale purchases of surplus grains from farmers.
“Last year, Minister of Finance Dr Ato Forson announced that they were giving us further ¢200 million to continue the good work that we were doing, so in other words, so far we had only ¢300 million,” Mr Abradu-Otoo said.
He explained that while the funding has enabled the company to begin building reserves, it falls far short of what is required to make a real impact.
“If we need to do proper meaningful mopping up of excess grains, we need no less than ¢1.5 billion, so you can imagine what ¢300 million has done,” he stated.
Mr Abradu-Otoo, however, described the government’s intervention as an important first step towards strengthening the country’s food security system.
“But it’s a good beginning because it hasn’t been done before. That’s where I draw my comfort from,” he said.
According to him, the government’s decision to prioritise establishing food reserves marks a significant policy shift.
“It’s a good beginning for the government to even think in the first place that we need to have a national food reserve,” he noted.
He said Ghana has lagged behind its neighbours in setting up strategic food reserves despite being a major agricultural producer.
“Because if you take the West African sub-region, Ghana is the only country that did not have a food reserve, can you believe that?” he said.
Mr Abradu-Otoo pointed out that several countries in the region have long recognised the importance of maintaining food stocks to cushion their populations against supply shocks and price volatility.
“Interestingly, we can also have Mali, etc, have a national food reserve,” he added.
His comments come as concerns grow over food security, post-harvest losses and the need for government interventions to stabilise grain markets and support farmers during bumper harvests.
The Buffer Stock CEO believes that scaling up funding for the programme would enable the company to buy larger quantities of excess grain, reduce waste, and provide the country with a stronger buffer against future food shortages.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Eric Opoku has presented 40,000 bags of inorganic fertilisers, 5 set of agriculture drones and 500 boxes of organic fertilisers to the Peasant Farmer Association of Ghana to improve production and safeguard food security.
The presentation that took place at the ministry’s forecourt in Accra indicates the government’s keenness to the Feed Ghana Programme to ensure food security in the country.
He mentioned that Feed Ghana is not only about food, rather about confidence, productivity, jobs, import substitution, rural transformation and restoring dignity to farming and making agriculture the engine of national development.
Minister explained that the 40,000 inorganic fertilisers are to supplement the initial fertilisers that have been distributed to the farmers. To disregard any complaint from any farmer of the inability to receive some of the fertilisers, he is adding 40,000 bags.
To ensure equal distribution of the fertilisers to farmers, by Friday the ministry will complete a distribution of 1,500 bags to all 276 constituencies across the country through the District Agricultural Offices and under the Institutional farming scheme, all faith-based organizations and institutions that are registered with the ministry will also be served.
Hon. Minister explaining the purpose of Feed Ghana Project; that is about food, rather about confidence, productivity, jobs, import substitution, rural transformation and restoring dignity to farming and making agriculture the engine of national development
This, he noted is deliberate. It reflects Government’s commitment to fairness and inclusion by all farmers.
Adding to the inorganic fertilizer usage by the farmers, 8,000 cartons of organic fertilizers have been allotted to the various farmer associations, and cooperatives especially the vegetable farmers for organic vegetables production.
According to the Minister, farmers are the central to food security and that the transformation of Ghana’s economy must begin from the soil, from the farm, and from the hardworking of the farmers.
“The future of agriculture will not be built only with the hoe and cutlass. The future of agriculture will also be built with data, drones, improved seeds, fertilisers irrigation, mechanisation, extension, digital advisory services and precision farming tools”, Minister said this acknowledged agritech to make agriculture attractive and improve yields.
Displaying the agriculture drone to PFAG and the farmers
He added that over a long period of time, agriculture has been an option, but now agriculture is the sector for the future. It is a sector for technology, investment, science, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The future of agriculture will not be built only with the hoe and cutlass; hence it will be built with data, drones, improved seeds, fertilisers, irrigation, mechanisation, extension, digital advisory services and precision farming tools.
Transforming Ghana’s agriculture connected to drones, data, enterprise and innovation, is critical to attracting the youth to the sector. Youth would perceive agriculture as a profitable and respectable profession other than punishment.
He extolled Peasant Farmers Association for the relentless advocacy for the smallholder farmers. He urged the association to continue supporting the farmers to address the needs and the concerns.
He admonished the association to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability in their use and distribution for the inputs to reach the expected farmers. Let these inputs reach the intended farmers. Let them support real production. “Let them lead to more acres cultivated, higher yields harvested, better incomes earned and more food on the tables of Ghanaian families”, he added.
The National President of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Douglas Annor commended the Minister of Agriculture and the government for the generous support to the farmers.
“This support comes at a crucial time and will help farmers improve productivity, enhance soil fertility, adopt modern farming technologies, and contribute to national food security”, he said.
Hon. Eric Opoku, Minister of Agric, presenting the organic fertilizers to the PFAG
He assured the ministry that the inputs will be distributed and utilized in a transparent, and accountable manner, for the benefit of the genuine farmers.
“We appreciate the government’s commitment to support smallholder farmers and appeal for continual investment in quality seeds, mechanization, irrigation, and sanitary services, and agricultural finances”, he added.
He concluded that PFAG remains committed to working with stakeholders to improve farmers’ labour and advance Ghana’s agricultural development.
The Government of Ghana announced a comprehensive package of reforms to the cocoa sector aimed at restoring financial discipline, securing the sector’s long-term viability, and guaranteeing fair prices for farmers in February.
These decisions followed an emergency Cabinet session convened to confront the historical and systemic problems that had accumulated in the sector over many years.
The measures include the introduction of an automatic producer price adjustment mechanism that guarantees farmers a minimum of 70 per cent of the gross FOB price, a transition to domestic financing through a cedi-denominated cocoa bond, a mandate to process at least 50 per cent of cocoa locally from the 2026/27 crop season, and a balance sheet restructuring to restore COCOBOD to financial health.
Every generation inherits an industry shaped by the decisions of those who came before. The cocoa economy that today sustains more than 800,000 Ghanaian farming households, anchors a significant share of national foreign exchange earnings, and supplies a global confectionery industry worth tens of billions of dollars, is the product of institutional choices made decades ago.
The question that faced Ghana was whether the instruments and structures that served the sector over the last half-century remain fit for the market that lies ahead. Examined honestly, they do not.
What is now taking shape is a new dawn, a deliberate reordering of the sector around the two ends it exists to serve: the livelihood of the farmer and the financial sustainability of the institutions that stand behind the crop.
The strain had become impossible to ignore. Having peaked at a record of over US$12,000 per metric tonne in late 2024, the world market price of cocoa then fell sharply to below US$5,000 per metric tonne, leaving Ghana’s beans uncompetitive and starving COCOBOD of the liquidity it needed to pay farmers, even as the organisation’s debt burden continued to mount.
It was precisely this combination of collapsing prices and rising indebtedness that made decisive reform unavoidable if the industry was to be sustained.
The measures now underway should therefore be understood for what they are: bold, deliberate and evidence-led decisions designed to secure the industry’s long-term competitiveness. Three pillars sit at the heart of this reform agenda.
Firstly, processing cocoa where it is grown
For too long, the structure of the global cocoa trade has rewarded those who process beans more than those who grow them.
Ghana exports premium cocoa of world-class quality, yet the bulk of the margin captured along the value chain accrues elsewhere. Cabinet has therefore directed that, from the 2026/27 crop season, a minimum of 50 per cent of national production be processed locally.
This clearly demonstrates an economic transformation agenda in its own right, far broader in implication than a narrow industrial policy adjustment.
To deliver it, the state-owned Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) is being revived as a priority to become the leading processor of the nation’s beans, and domestic processors have already indicated both the capacity and the willingness to process more than 50 per cent of Ghana’s output.
Closing the gap between installed capacity and actual utilisation shifts the country from a raw commodity supplier to a producer of semi-finished cocoa derivatives that command significantly higher margins.
It builds manufacturing depth, develops skilled employment across the value chain, and keeps a larger share of the crop’s value within the communities that grow it. This represents a direct dividend for the farming households the reforms are designed to serve. It positions Ghana as both the world’s premium cocoa origin and a credible processor of that origin.
Regulatory tailwinds reinforce the case: with roughly 95 per cent of its cocoa farms mapped, Ghana qualifies as a low-risk origin under the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), giving Ghanaian-processed cocoa a distinctive competitive position in tightening international markets.
Secondly, a pricing framework that reflects the market
The most consequential change for the farmer is the move to a transparent, market-responsive pricing framework.
Under the previous model, the producer price was fixed at the start of the season and held constant throughout, with COCOBOD absorbing the full effect of any subsequent movement in the world market price.
That arrangement offered the farmer stability, but it placed the entire burden of market volatility on COCOBOD’s balance sheet; a burden that became unsustainable as prices swung violently and the institution’s finances came under strain.
The new COCOBOD Bill will instead establish an automatic adjustment of the producer price in line with movements in the world market price, the exchange rate and other key variables, while guaranteeing farmers a minimum of 70 per cent of the gross FOB price.
For the first time, farmer income will move transparently in step with world market realities, with the floor ensuring it never falls below a fair share of the value the crop commands. This is, at its heart, a livelihood guarantee: it ensures that the household whose labour produces the crop receives a fair and predictable share of the value it creates.
A responsive pricing framework matters because the global cocoa market itself has become more volatile, with prices on the ICE London exchange capable of moving over a thousand pounds in a matter of weeks.
Producer incentives must be aligned with that reality. Transparency and predictability protect the farmer, sustain productivity, and reinforce the institutional trust on which long-term investment in cocoa depends.
Pricing reform of this magnitude is rarely comfortable to implement, but continuing to insulate producer prices from market signals would erode both farmer confidence and sector competitiveness.
Thirdly, a financing architecture built for resilience.
This third pillar concerns how the sector funds itself. For 32 years, Ghana relied on an offshore syndicated loan facility to finance cocoa purchases. The instrument served its time, but it carried foreign exchange exposure, concentrated counterparty risk, and tied the sector’s liquidity to conditions on international lending desks.
When that model failed, it was replaced by a stop-gap arrangement under which off-takers prefinanced purchases; an approach that has proven unsustainable, dependent entirely on a buyer’s willingness to bear the financing cost.
The transition to a domestic Cocoa Bond programme corrects that architecture at the foundation. The programme is designed to raise approximately US$1 billion, denominated in Ghana cedis and drawn from a range of investor categories, with the proceeds dedicated purely to the purchase of cocoa.
It establishes a revolving fund that COCOBOD can turn over at least once during each season, with purchases repaid from cocoa proceeds within the same crop year.
By securing reliable, ring-fenced liquidity for purchases, the model also underpins the single outcome that matters most to the farmer: being paid promptly and in full for the crop delivered.
It channels local liquidity into an export-backed productive sector, eliminates dollar-denominated borrowing risk, and allows issuance to be staggered in step with the crop cycle.
It will also revive the indigenous Licensed Buying Companies displaced by the previous arrangement, with the state-owned Produce Buying Company restored to full operations as the leading LBC.
The result is a more resilient cocoa economy, less exposed to external shocks, and better positioned to respond to a global market that no longer behaves the way it did a decade ago.
The Considered Path
These reforms are reinforced by a decisive restructuring of COCOBOD’s balance sheet; the conversion of legacy debts of about GH¢5 billion owed to the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana into equity, and the transfer of GH¢4.35 billion in cocoa roads liabilities to the Ministry of Roads and Highways alongside forensic audits, criminal investigations and a firm prohibition on the quasi-fiscal expenditures that drained the organisation for years.
Together they reflect a single conviction: that the durability of Ghana’s cocoa sector depends on the willingness of its institutions to act with foresight, even when the decisions are uncomfortable.
These reforms are critical to the long-term sustainability of the sector and must be pursued with courage, clarity and conviction. They represent bold leadership and a decisive commitment to building a future-focused cocoa industry. There is no stronger policy direction at this moment than these announced reforms, which secure Ghana’s value, strengthen local capacity, and position the sector for sustainable growth. Any policy position that contradicts this reform agenda can only be seen as disconnected from the current realities and urgent needs of the industry.
The cocoa economy belongs to the farmer, the processor, the financier, the policymaker, and the nation. Securing greater value for each of them is the standard against which every reform must ultimately be judged. By that standard, the direction Ghana has chosen is defensible, responsible, and it is the right direction at the right time.
Authored by Wisdom Kofi Dogbey, Managing Director, Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) Ghana Limited.
Agric Minister, Eric Opoku, announced that the intervention forms part of a broader strategy to support smallholder farmers with essential inputs needed to improve yields and enhance livelihoods.
According to the Minister, the fertilizer distribution is expected to benefit thousands of farmers, particularly those engaged in the cultivation of staple food crops.
In addition to the fertilizer support, the Ministry will deploy agricultural drones to selected farming communities to promote modern and technology-driven farming practices. The drones will be used for crop monitoring, precision spraying, field mapping, and the early detection of pests and diseases, helping farmers improve efficiency while reducing production costs.
Mr. Opoku said the initiative demonstrates government’s commitment to transforming agriculture through innovation and targeted support programmes that enhance productivity and sustainability.
“Improving access to fertilizers and modern farming technologies remains critical to increasing food production, strengthening the agricultural value chain, and reducing post-harvest losses,” he noted.
The Minister expressed confidence that the intervention will contribute significantly to Ghana’s food security agenda while improving the incomes of farmers across the country.
The Ministry is expected to provide further details on the distribution process, beneficiary selection criteria, and drone deployment arrangements during the official launch on Tuesday.
