The Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will soon issue commercial papers to raise about US$1 billion to finance cocoa bean purchases for the 2026/2027 crop season.
Speaking at the Ghana-UK Investment Summit 2026 in London, Dr. Forson said the move forms part of a new financing strategy aimed at reducing COCOBOD’s dependence on traditional offshore syndicated loans, which have become increasingly difficult to secure.
According to the Finance Minister, the transaction advisor for the deal has completed its work and submitted its report, paving the way for the issuance of the commercial papers in the coming weeks.
“The transaction advisor just submitted the report and we will issue very soon. We are not solely relying on Ghanaian banks but pension funds and non-resident investors. We will issue it in three tranches,” Dr. Forson disclosed.
He explained that the transaction remains subject to the passage of the new Cocoa Bill by Parliament and subsequent presidential assent. Once those approvals are secured, government will provide further details on the structure and implementation of the fundraising programme.
The planned issuance is expected to raise approximately US$1 billion to support the purchase of cocoa beans during the next crop season, ensuring that COCOBOD has adequate liquidity to pay farmers and maintain operations across the cocoa value chain.
The announcement marks a significant shift in the financing model for Ghana’s cocoa sector. Historically, COCOBOD relied on annual syndicated loans from international banks to fund cocoa purchases. However, the rising debt levels, market volatility and tightening global financing conditions have made that approach increasingly challenging.
Under the new arrangement, COCOBOD intends to issue domestic cocoa-linked debt instruments to create a revolving fund that can be used to purchase cocoa and subsequently be repaid from cocoa sales proceeds within the same crop year.
Industry observers say the strategy could help deepen Ghana’s domestic capital market by attracting investments from pension funds, local institutional investors and foreign investors seeking exposure to Ghana’s cocoa sector.
The new financing framework is also expected to provide a lifeline for indigenous Licensed Buying Companies, many of which have struggled under the existing financing structure. It could further enable COCOBOD to sell greater volumes of cocoa beans to local processing companies, supporting value addition, industrialisation and job creation.
COCOBOD’s financing challenges have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years amid concerns over its debt burden, which stood at approximately GH¢32 billion earlier this year. Analysts believe a successful commercial paper programme could help diversify funding sources and improve the sustainability of cocoa sector financing.
The cocoa sector remains a critical pillar of Ghana’s economy, contributing significantly to export earnings, rural livelihoods and foreign exchange inflows. The government hopes the new financing model will strengthen the sector’s resilience while ensuring uninterrupted support for cocoa farmers across the country.
The Country Head of Olam Agri Ghana, Baibhav Biswas has been honoured as CEO of the Year in Agribusiness at the 2026 Ghana CEO Summit held in Accra.
The recognition was presented at the Summit of the prestigious Ghana CEO Excellence Awards, an annual platform that celebrates business leaders making significant and measurable contributions to Ghana’s economic growth and transformation.
Held under the theme, “Accelerating Ghana’s Economic Transformation: Driving Bold Reforms through Leadership, Technology, and Industrialization for Sustainable Growth,” this year’s Summit brought together heads of state, industry leaders, investors, and senior policymakers to shape conversations around Ghana’s economic future.
Delivering the Presidential Keynote Address, President John Dramani Mahama underscored the urgent need for Ghana to transition from economic stabilisation to long-term structural transformation driven by industrialisation and innovation.
Baibhav Biswas received the Agribusiness award in recognition of his leadership in expanding and strengthening Olam Agri Ghana’s operations in ways that directly support the country’s food security and industrialisation agenda.
Under his leadership, Olam Agri commissioned Ghana’s first purpose-built pasta manufacturing facility — a landmark investment in local food processing and import substitution.
The facility, which produces the First Choice Premium Spaghetti range, enhances domestic value addition while creating employment opportunities across manufacturing, logistics, and distribution.
Baibhav’s leadership has also been reflected in the strength of Olam Agri Ghana’s partnerships with the country’s baking industry.
Through sustained collaboration with bakers, distributors, and trade partners, the company has helped reinforce the supply chain for locally produced flour while supporting skills development within the sector.
This commitment is further demonstrated through the Raising Generations Initiative — a baking school and scholarship programme implemented in partnership with the Ghana TVET Service to equip young people with industry-relevant technical and entrepreneurial skills.
“This recognition belongs to our team and the communities we work with,” said Biswas. “Our commitment is to build an agribusiness that creates sustainable, long-term value for Ghana through local production, skills development, and partnerships that extend beyond transactions. While we are proud of the progress made, there is still important work ahead, and this recognition reinforces the responsibility that comes with the scale and impact of our operations.”
The Ghana CEO Summit remains one of West Africa’s leading platforms for executive leadership dialogue, convening senior business executives, policymakers, investors, and public sector leaders to shape strategies that advance Ghana’s economic competitiveness, industrial growth, and sustainable development agenda.
I recently spoke with a retired partner of a Washington, D.C. law firm who has become a friend and mentor. He once led the firm’s public interest litigation practice. As we discussed my professional interests and past work, our conversation naturally drifted to my cocoa advocacy, which he had come across online.
He asked a question many friends and colleagues have privately asked me over the past few months: How did you become so invested in reforming Ghana’s cocoa law?
The truth is, I have no pecuniary interest in cocoa. I do not own a cocoa farm, nor do I have any stake in the cocoa value chain or the artisanal chocolate industry. But cocoa is woven into my family’s story. Long before I was born, my paternal grandfather owned tens of acres of cocoa farms in Ghana’s Ahafo Region. By all accounts, he was a prosperous cocoa farmer.
Like many families in cocoa-growing communities, cocoa was the lifeblood that sustained his family. Yet, for reasons still recalled in fragments and contradictions within family memory, he lost those farms under “strange” circumstances. He died before I was born. Perhaps one day I will tell my grandfather’s story and its impact on me fully, maybe in a memoir, if life grants me the time to write one.
So no, my advocacy is not driven by personal gain or profit. It is rooted in a quiet conviction that the people whose labor built much of this country, including my grandfather, deserve dignity and justice.
The travails of cocoa farmers
Farmers are among the most hardworking and most resilient people you will ever meet, and cocoa farmers perhaps most of all. The President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, himself would understand this well. He is a farmer too.
Cocoa cultivation is incredibly challenging. Farmers endure years of hardship before earning a single harvest. They must first secure land, often through fragile tenancy arrangements such as “abunu” or “abusa”, then spend 3 to 5 years clearing, planting, pruning, spraying, and tending cocoa trees, all without income from the crop.
During that time, they rise before dawn in villages with limited roads, healthcare, and electricity, while still struggling to feed their families and keep their children in school.
Climate change has made this life even harder: higher temperatures reduce yields, longer rains fuel disease and pests, and increasingly erratic weather deepens uncertainty. And when the harvest finally comes, the labor continues, as pods are split by hand and beans are painstakingly fermented, dried, and bagged for export.
Despite these sacrifices, a 1984 law, whose antecedents date back to the colonial period, denies cocoa farmers the right to freely negotiate prices and sell their property to buyers of their choice. Instead, they are forced to sell exclusively to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) at below-market prices set entirely by the State.
Trading outside this monopsony is a criminal offense. Imprisoning someone for at least five years simply for trading their own property violates basic civil rights and natural law.
Over the 30 year period between the 1990/1991 and 2020/2021 cocoa seasons, cocoa farmers have earned, on average, just 55.8% of the global cocoa price, according to our preliminary analysis of data from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO).
In the 1993/1994 cocoa season, the farm gate price paid to farmers was as low as 32% of the world price.
The operation of this law, therefore, effectively reduces cocoa farmers to a form of servitude. No other trade, occupation, or vocation is subject to this kind of treatment. Even minimum wage laws entitle covered wage-earners to a wage above what they would otherwise earn for their labour in a free labour market. Why, then, has this egregious cocoa law never been amended or challenged in court?
The inequities and injustices embedded in this cocoa marketing framework have never sat well with me. It is a conviction deeply shared by my colleagues, Kwadwo Gyan and Sybil Efrima Sam.
What reform should look like
To be clear, we are not advocating for a sudden liberalization of the market, nor are we calling for the abolition of the Ghana Cocoa Board. We are not asking for a complete deregulation of the sector, nor do we demand that the State abandons its vital roles in quality control, buyer licensing, export infrastructure, research, or the development of the “cocoa roads” program.
Our argument is far more fundamental. We are simply asking that the State stop taking the property of vulnerable cocoa farmers.
The hard-earned fruit of a farmer’s labor should not be subjected to a forced sale to a state-designated buyer at a unilaterally determined, below-market farm gate price without the “prompt, fair and adequate compensation” explicitly required by the Ghanaian Constitution. Cocoa farmers should be free to sell to whichever buyer they want and negotiate prices.
The State can participate in the enterprise if it chooses, through a commercial entity, howsoever described. If the state entity offers a preferable price in a given cocoa season, farmers will sell to the state.
However, if another buyer offers a better price, it should not be a crime to sell to that buyer. The state can mobilize revenue through income taxes, export levies, buyer license fees, penalties on non-compliant participants in the value chain, cocoa tourism, etc.
The Abandoned Medium-Term Cocoa Development Strategy of 1999
Before the British colonial government introduced the Ghana Cocoa Board’s statutory monopsony, the Gold Coast’s cocoa sector operated through a competitive market system with multiple buyers, organised farmer cooperatives, and prices determined through negotiation rather than by State fiat.
The proposal is therefore not for the Government of Ghana (GoG) to experiment with an unknown model, but to restore a market structure closer to what existed before colonial intervention distorted the sector.
Ghanaian cocoa farmers should be allowed to act collectively and trade their own produce in their own economic interest. It is worth noting that the Government of Ghana itself, at the highest level of executive decision-making, accepted and approved the case for cocoa sector reform.
In the 1990s, acting on advice from the International Monetary Fund and after broad stakeholder consultations, the Cabinet approved reducing State involvement in cocoa marketing. This position was later reflected in the Medium-Term Cocoa Development Strategy of 1999.
In other words, the decision was already made; it was simply never implemented. That fact disposes of any suggestion that what we now seek is radical, foreign, or untested in Ghanaian governance.
Ghana should not be an outlier.
Ghana is today, the only major cocoa-producing country in the world that retains a full statutory monopsony over the purchase of cocoa from smallholder farmers.
Every major producer has in some form, liberalized. Even our neighbors, Côte d’Ivoire (the world’s largest producer), now operates what may fairly be described as a hybrid system.
A regulatory body, the Conseil du Café Cacao, sets a guaranteed minimum farm gate price each season and supervises the sector.
Within that price floor, however, a plurality of licensed private buyers, exporters, and cooperatives compete to purchase cocoa from farmers. The state retains a meaningful role in “protecting” farmers from price volatility and ensuring sectoral stability, but it does not stand between farmer and buyer as the sole purchaser.
Beyond Côte d’Ivoire, there are valuable best practices across other cocoa-producing countries that offer useful guidance.
Ghana would benefit from recognizing its place within a broader global industry and thoughtfully drawing on these shared experiences to strengthen and improve its approach.
The writer is a lawyer with experience in strategic litigation, corporate law, and legal policy.
The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana together with its partners, the wider agribusiness community of Ghana and across Africa is congratulating H.E President Romuald Wadagni, the President of the Republic of Benin as the rise of a new generation of African leadership.
The Chamber describes the inauguration as a democratic moment not only for Benin, but for the African continent.
“At just 49 years of age, you assume office as one of Africa’s youngest democratically elected Presidents, carrying with you not only an overwhelming electoral mandate of more than 94% of the vote, but also the hopes, aspirations, and confidence of millions of citizens who see in your leadership a renewed promise for prosperity, reform, and national transformation,” CAG exults him.
His remarkable journey, from global finance and executive leadership to the national public service and now the Presidency stands as a powerful testament to his discipline, excellence, vision, and service.
As a young man born on June 20, 1976, in Lokossa, Benin, he has delved in all spheres of national and international professional careers that earned him a reputation as one of Africa’s most respected economic reformers.
Africa celebrates not only his victory, but his story. A story of intellect, service, and generational leadership. A story that tells millions of young Africans that leadership is not reserved for age alone, but for vision, competence, courage, and commitment to country. “Your inauguration sends a clear and powerful message across our continent: Africa’s future is now. The youth of Africa are watching with pride, young entrepreneurs with hope, young professionals with belief, and young leaders with conviction that African governance can be innovative, globally competitive, economically disciplined, and deeply people centred.”
To his pledge to the citizen of Benin, the Chamber describes it as the one that resonates strongly across African growth, that create jobs, reduce poverty, improve access to services, uplift families, and build dignity. “We are particularly inspired by your demonstrated commitment to: Economic transformation and fiscal stewardship, private sector growth and entrepreneurship, regional trade and competitiveness, youth employment and innovation, infrastructure and industrial development and peace, democracy, and national unity,” the Chamber added.
The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, recognise the tremendous opportunity for deeper collaboration between Ghana and Benin; particularly in agribusiness, agroindustrialization, food systems transformation, agricultural trade, logistics, youth enterprise development, and regional value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The Chamber looks forward to stronger partnerships between our nations and institutions in advancing food security, industrial growth, and economic prosperity for our people.
“As you take the oath of office and begin this seven-year mandate, may your presidency be guided by wisdom, courage, humility, and bold vision. May your leadership bring peace to communities, your policies unlock opportunity for youth, your reforms deepen prosperity, and your legacy strengthen democracy. And may your presidency help shape a stronger, more united, and economically transformed Africa,” the Chamber added.
The convener of Ghana Youth Agriculture Summit, Evans Kyere-Mensah has revealed the mastery of making wealth and that is agriculture to the youth during the 2026 Ghana Youth Agriculture Summit that was held in Bono Region.
According to the convenor, agriculture is not a punishment, nor the last option in life, rather it is a business that involves technology to create wealth.
“Many have been taught to see agriculture as a last option instead of one of the greatest opportunities of our generation. But let me say this clearly today: Agriculture is not poverty, agriculture is not punishment, agriculture is business, agriculture is industry, agriculture is technology, and agriculture is wealth creation,” he added
To elucidate the wealth creation, he said farmers feed the entire population on the planet daily; the products been cocoa, cassava, maize, poultry, vegetables, fruits, and livestock that are consumed daily is the trillion-dollar industry for the youth to tab in to.
He mentioned that the youth should take the mantle and focus on the opportunities in the agriculture sector. Most of the youth are interested in office jobs that do not exist when their families have fallow lands in their hometowns that they can develop to produce food for the state.
He advised the youth to venture into agriculture by starting small, “do not despite small beginnings, many young people are waiting for big capital before they start, but history teaches us that great businesses rarely begin big: begin with vision, consistency, and courage”.
He further said that the future millionaire in agriculture may not start with 100 acres, it may start with one acre, one greenhouse, one poultry pen, one processing machine, or one bold decision.
Interestingly, he explained opportunities that have been created by the government institutions like NEIP, National Service Authority, youth entrepreneurship initiatives, skills development programs, agribusiness incubation projects, and private sector interventions designed to support young individuals who have interest in agriculture with training, mentorship, financing access, and enterprise development but these opportunities are for those who have prepared.
To gain wealth, do not wait for perfect conditions nor somebody to save you, and not to underestimate the beginning, he admonished the youth.
He urged all build a generation of young Ghanaians who do not only seek jobs, but to create industries, employment, value addition to transform to wealth.
Ghana plans to call on global cocoa buyers and chocolate manufacturers to invest directly in African cocoa farms as producing countries face rising costs tied to sustainable production and regulatory compliance.
The proposal is expected to form a central part of discussions at the 2027 World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting, which will be hosted in Accra for the first time since the summit was established roughly two decades ago.
Randy Abbey, chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, said producing countries should no longer carry the financial burden of maintaining a viable and sustainable cocoa industry alone.
“The quest for a financially viable industry cannot and should not be the sole burden of producing countries,” Abbey said during the summit launch ceremony.
Ghana intends to advocate for a broader financing model involving international chocolate companies, cocoa traders and global buyers.
The country’s proposals are expected to include investment in replanting aging cocoa farms, replacing diseased trees, improving farm productivity and supporting sustainability programmes.
Ivory Coast and Ghana together account for roughly 60% of global cocoa production, yet much of the sector remains dominated by smallholder farmers with relatively low incomes despite the global cocoa industry generating an estimated $100 billion annually.
Both governments currently spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year supporting farmers through fertilizer distribution, seedlings, disease management and regulatory compliance programmes.
The summit is also expected to address the financial implications of the European Union’s new deforestation regulations, which require cocoa imported into Europe to be fully traceable and verified as deforestation-free.
The rules are scheduled to take effect later this year and are expected to increase compliance costs across cocoa-producing countries.
Abbey said sustainability compliance costs should not disproportionately burden poor farmers and producing nations.
“We need a fair, transparent pricing structure that reflects the true cost of sustainable production,” he said.
The push for greater buyer participation comes after a period of sharp volatility in global cocoa markets.
Cocoa prices surged to record highs in late 2024 before falling sharply, creating financial disruptions across supply chains in both Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The market instability has also prompted discussions around reforming domestic cocoa pricing systems in the two countries.
Authorities are now considering more flexible pricing mechanisms that adjust more frequently to global market movements rather than maintaining largely fixed seasonal prices.
The debate reflects growing pressure across Africa’s agricultural commodity sectors for fairer value distribution and increased local participation in global supply chains.
The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) has announced a minimum producer price of GH¢5.22 per kilogram for second-grade fresh mango for the 2026 major season.
The Authority said the price was determined in consultation with key stakeholders, including the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters (FAGE) and other actors within the mango value chain.
A statement issued by the TCDA said the announcement was made in accordance with Section 3(f) of the Tree Crops Development Authority Act, 2019 (Act 1010) and Regulation 47(1) of the Tree Crops Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2471).
It said the intervention was aimed at ensuring fair pricing, improving export competitiveness and promoting transparency in the marketing of selected tree crops.
The statement said Ghana’s mango sector continued to grow as one of the country’s promising tree crop industries, contributing to export earnings, rural employment and agroindustrial development.
It said producers with first-grade mangoes could negotiate premium prices above the minimum producer price to encourage quality production within the sector.
The Authority reiterated that all actors within the selected tree crops value chain, including nursery operators, service providers, input dealers, aggregators, exporters and processors, were required to register and obtain licences in line with existing regulations.
The statement said the registration and licensing exercise would improve standards, ensure traceability, promote quality assurance and strengthen regulation within the sector.
The TCDA regulates six selected tree crops in Ghana namely mango, coconut, cashew, rubber, oil palm and shea.
The Produce Buying Company (PBC) says it has secured a financing facility backed by a GH₵30 million credited cocoa stock to enable it pay farmers promptly amid ongoing liquidity challenges within Ghana’s cocoa sector.
The move comes at a time several Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) continue to struggle with severe cash constraints and delayed payments to farmers, a situation that has heightened concerns across the cocoa supply chain.
Speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Produce Buying Company and the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association (GNACOFA), Deputy Managing Director in charge of Finance, Thomas Ayisi described the facility as a major intervention aimed at restoring confidence among cocoa farmers, and repositioning the company after years of financial difficulties.
“PBC has secured a facility for paying credited stocks from farmers. In doing so, we distinguish ourselves from competitors who still owe. This act restores credibility and rebuilds trust at the grassroots which is the very foundation of our sector.”
“This GNACOFA-backed facility, which was supported by 30 million cedis credited stocks, is proof that PBC is not merely surviving but actively restructuring”, he said.
According to him, the financing arrangement will strengthen PBC’s operational capacity and ensure timely payments to farmers during the cocoa purchasing season.
Mr. Ayisi noted that the company remains committed to rebuilding its relationship with cocoa farmers by improving efficiency and addressing longstanding challenges that have affected operations in recent years.
He added that the partnership with GNACOFA forms part of broader efforts to deepen collaboration with farmers and enhance sustainability within the cocoa sector.
The National President of the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association, Stephenson Anane Boateng said the partnership will support efforts to address major challenges confronting the cocoa sector including smuggling and illegal mining.
“This partnership with PBC presents an opportunity to establish stronger systems and structures that will directly support cocoa farmers and improve their welfare.
The agreement is also expected to help stabilise farmer incomes at a time the sector continues to face financing and operational pressures.
Cocoa farmers in Ghana are currently earning more per bag than their counterparts in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, Nana Attakorah Asante has said, rejecting opposition claims that producers are worse off under the current administration.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Nana Attakorah Asante, Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK) Constituency, said current cocoa prices showed that Ghanaian farmers were earning more than their counterparts in Côte d’Ivoire and described attempts to suggest otherwise as politically misleading.
His remarks followed recent visits by some leading New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, led by Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, Member of Parliament for Assin South, to communities within the constituency, including Obengkrom, where they engaged cocoa farmers and criticised the government’s cocoa pricing policies and economic management.
Mr Asante said the NPP delegation entered some cocoa-growing communities to convince farmers that the government had failed them following recent cocoa price adjustments linked to global market downturns and economic pressures.
However, he said prevailing cocoa prices within the West African sub-region showed that Ghanaian farmers were earning more than their counterparts in Côte d’Ivoire, accusing the delegation of spreading “falsehood” to mislead farmers.
“They came into the communities and told cocoa farmers that this government has cheated them on prices, but that is not the reality on the ground,” he said. “As we speak, Ghana cocoa farmers are earning more than those in Côte d’Ivoire.”
He added that claims that cocoa farmers had stronger purchasing power under the previous administration did not reflect current market realities.
“Our opponents said cocoa farmers could buy more cement under the previous administration, but when you compare current prices and purchasing power, that argument does not hold,” he said.
His comments come amid growing public debate over cocoa producer prices following recent adjustments announced by the Ghana Cocoa Board as part of measures to stabilise the sector.
Mr Asante said Ghana’s cocoa producer price currently stood at about GH¢2,587 per 64-kilogramme bag following the latest adjustments earlier this year.
By contrast, he said cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire currently earned about GH¢1,200 per bag under that country’s mid-crop pricing system.
A Ghana News Agency investigation similarly found that Ghana’s farmgate price remains significantly higher than Côte d’Ivoire’s, citing the same price range of about GH¢2,587 compared with roughly GH¢1,200 per bag.
Nana Asante said the higher producer price in Ghana had contributed to increasing cases of reverse cocoa smuggling from Côte d’Ivoire into Ghana.
“Before, people were smuggling cocoa from Ghana to Côte d’Ivoire. Today, the reverse is happening because Ghanaian prices are more attractive,” he stated.
Mr Asante also dismissed claims that cocoa farmers had lost purchasing power under the current administration, arguing that declining inflation and falling cement prices had improved farmers’ ability to afford building materials.
“Currently, cement prices in many parts of the constituency range between GH¢72 and GH¢82 per bag. Farmers can still buy around 30 bags of cement with proceeds from one bag of cocoa and even get some balance,” he said.
Mr Asante said government interventions in the cocoa sector extended beyond producer prices, citing ongoing fertiliser distribution, cocoa spraying exercises and plans to improve farmers’ share of the Free-On-Board cocoa price.
He further accused the opposition of attempting to create disaffection among cocoa farmers through political propaganda, claiming some participants in the engagements were brought in from outside the affected communities.
“They came with a political agenda, but after we engaged the people and explained the facts, many residents understood the true situation,” he said.
Mr Asante maintained that ongoing development projects facilitated by the Member of Parliament, Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye, within cocoa-growing communities in the constituency demonstrated the government’s commitment to improving livelihoods.
He cited road projects, classroom blocks, CHPS compounds, boreholes and water supply interventions across the constituency.
“These projects are visible in the communities. The people can see and testify to what is happening,” he added.
Mr Asante called for discussions on cocoa pricing and farmer welfare to be guided by facts rather than partisan politics, stressing the importance of the sector to Ghana’s economy and rural livelihoods.
“This sector supports thousands of families and contributes significantly to the national economy, so we must be careful not to mislead farmers with false information,” he said.
He maintained that the ruling NDC remained committed to improving the welfare of cocoa farmers through better pricing policies, agricultural support programmes and rural development interventions.
“We are urging cocoa farmers to look at the realities on the ground and compare the figures themselves,” he added. “At the moment, Ghanaian cocoa farmers are earning more than their counterparts in Côte d’Ivoire, and that is a fact everybody must acknowledge.”
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together produce about 65 per cent of the world’s cocoa and have in recent years collaborated under the Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana Cocoa Initiative to strengthen farmer incomes and improve influence over global cocoa pricing.
Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Hon. John Dumelo, has attributed the sharp rise in ginger prices to a mysterious disease that has devastated ginger farms across Ghana over the past two years.
“There’s a strange ginger disease that has come and, for the last two years, it has affected most ginger farmers. That is why ginger has become so expensive,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the outbreak has significantly reduced yields, creating supply gaps that traders say have become increasingly difficult to fill.
The shortages have forced traders to source ginger from countries including China, Cote d’lvoire, Nigeria and Togo to supplement the local market. Historical trade records also indicate imports from Sri Lanka, India and the Netherlands.
Figures from the Ghana Statistical Service show that China accounted for more than 23 percent of Ghana’s total imports in the final quarter of 2025, with shipments including machinery, electronics, textiles and agricultural products.
Trade data published by the United Nations COMTRADE indicate that Ghana imported approximately US$39,740 worth of ginger, turmeric, saffron, thyme and related spice products from China in 2023.
These figures underscore Ghana’s growing dependence on imported ginger, despite the crop’s longstanding importance to local agriculture, food processing and traditional medicine.
Economists have linked the situation to broader structural weaknesses in Ghana’s agricultural sector, particularly limited investment in disease control, post-harvest management and climate resilience.
Recent data also show that Ghana’s imports from China reached record levels in late 2025, with monthly imports peaking at approximately US$437 million in November.
For consumers, however, the immediate concern is affordability, as rising prices continue to affect households, food vendors, restaurants and spice retailers who depend on ginger for cooking and traditional remedies.
