The Ghanaian government has raised the farmgate price for cocoa beans by 58% to $2,481 (33,120 GhC) per ton for the 2023-2024 cocoa season.
The new price of 33,120 GhC per tonne translates to 2,070 GhC per 64kg bag of cocoa beans.
According to the press release by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), the move was necessitated by rising cocoa prices in the international market.
Farmgate price refers to the price at which agricultural producers sell their products directly to buyers, often at the farm or production site. It represents the price received by farmers for their crops, livestock, or other agricultural commodities at the point of sale, before any further processing or distribution takes place.
- The statement by Cocobod noted, “The increase in the producer price of cocoa has become necessary to enhance the income of cocoa farmers,” Adding, “in response to the rising prices of cocoa in the international market.”
Rising Cocoa Prices
Due to climate challenges faced in Ivory Coast and Ghana, there has been a global shortage of cocoa supply which has caused cocoa prices in the international market to surge, hitting as high as $10,000.
According to Markets Insider, cocoa traded at about $10,158 per tonne on April 8, 2024, representing a 271% surge from its price of $2,736 per tonne one year ago. The hike in cocoa prices was primarily traced to droughts in West Africa, compounded by structural issues plaguing the cocoa supply chain.
- Tracy Allen, an Agricultural Commodities Strategist at J.P Morgan noted, “Cocoa is a market where the grower produces a very high-value good but receives a very low share of the actual value chain. As a result, replanting rates are very low and cocoa trees are ageing,”
The rising cocoa prices in the international market have led the top producers in the world, Ivory Coast and Ghana to increase its farmgate price. Ivory Coast led the charge by increasing its farmgate price to 1500 CFA Francs ($2.47) per kg, up from 1000 CFA Francs.
It’s an insult! Ghanaian farmers fume
Information from news sources in Ghana indicate that Ghanaian cocoa farmers are unsatisfied with the farmgate price increase.
- Stephenson Anane Boateng, the President of the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association, voicing his opposition noted, “Cocoa has been raised globally to $10,000 per metric tonne. So, if you can compare, and you convert to our currency, it is running into over 9000 GhC.”
- “We pay our labour, we buy inputs for the farm, and then we pay ourselves. So, in a nutshell, we get only 600 GhC for that while COCOBOD also gets 7,000 GhC. So, what work did COCOBOD do and give us that money? It’s an insult.”
