Huge boost for farmers as gov’t raises cocoa producer price by 129%

The government has announced a cumulative increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2024/25 crop season, raising it by 129.36%.

At the beginning of the 2023/2024 crop season, a 64-kilogramme bag of cocoa beans was priced at GH¢1,300.

During the same period, as global spot prices increased, the price of cocoa rose to GH¢2,070.

For the upcoming 2024/2025 crop season, the government has further raised the price to GH¢3,000 per 64-kilogramme bag.

This adjustment reflects the ongoing fluctuations in the global cocoa market and aims to better support local cocoa producers.

The mid-season price hike came after top cocoa producer, neighbouring Ivory Coast, raised its farmgate price to 1,500 CFA francs (US$2.55), or around 40 cedis, per kg for the April-to-September mid-crop of the 2023/24 season, up from 1,000 CFA francs last season.

This price hike is expected to support cocoa farmers considerably and boost the sector’s overall economic stability.

On September 2, Reuters reported that Ghana will increase the state-guaranteed price paid to its cocoa farmers by nearly 45% for the 2024/25 crop season to help boost their incomes and deter bean smuggling out of the country.

The world’s number two cocoa producer raised the farmgate price by more than 58% to 33,120 cedi ($2,123.08) per metric ton, or 2,070 cedi per 64 kilogram (kg), in April for the rest of the 2023/24 season.

The two biggest cocoa-growing countries set up an initiative to coordinate farmgate prices and cocoa supplies to help sustain the sector and boost their farmers’ incomes.

Cocoa prices have been buoyant this year as disease and adverse weather in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together supply more than 60% of the world’s cocoa, pushed the market to a third successive deficit.