Akufo-Addo increases the cocoa producer price by 28% to GHC10,560 per tonne

President Akufo-Addo announces a 28% increase in the producer price of cocoa per bag for the 2020/21 crop year

Wilberforce Asare September 24, 2020

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President Akufo-Addo meets cocoa farmers in Sefwi Wiawso — President Akufo-Addo waves to cocoa farmers and guests at the ceremony in Sefwi Wiawso

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a 28% increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2020/21 crop year. The new price takes effect from 1 October.

“Nananom, beginning 1 October 2020, I am happy to announce the award of a new cocoa producer price of GHC10,560 per metric tonne, equivalent to GHC660 per bag for the coming 2020/21 crop year. This represents a hike of more than 28% over the price obtained in the outgoing crop year of 2019/20.”

The president was speaking on Thursday 24 September 2020, on day one of a three-day tour of the Western North Region, as he launched the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme in Sefwi Wiawso.

Senior cocoa farmers address the ceremony in Sefwi Wiawso to launch the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme

The current 2019/20 producer price of GHC8,240 per metric tonne, or GHC514 per bag, was an 8.2% increase over the 2018/19 price of GHC7,615 or GHC475 per bag.

“By this new producer price, we have kept faith with our commitment, under the international arrangement with Côte d’Ivoire and global stakeholders, by awarding to our farmers the full US$400 per metric tonne (US$400/mt) living income differential (LID),” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued: “By this substantial increase in the producer price, we are also delivering on our 2016 manifesto promise to reward handsomely the hard work of our cocoa farmers and their unequalled contribution to the economy of Ghana over the years.”

Living income differential

Touching on the instability of cocoa prices on the world market, President Akufo-Addo said: “It remains one of the biggest challenges to ensuring payment of decent farmgate prices to our cocoa farmers.”

With Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire responsible for 65% of the raw cocoa beans used in making chocolate, the president bemoaned that cocoa farmers from the two countries earn just US$6 billion from a chocolate industry worth over $100 billion a year.

This, he explained, is the meagre return that hard-working farmers get from their toil.

“The government believes that value addition to our cocoa, and the search for new markets, will make us more money than all the aid given to us by all the donor countries. We shall gain some dignity, and spare the donors the fatigue we have all heard about,” he said.

Guests at the launch the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme in Sefwi Wiawso

This, according to President Akufo-Addo, is the rationale behind the strategic partnership between Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the common initiative of President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire and himself, which is manifesting in a joint cocoa production and marketing policy, and is already paying dividends.

“Today, I am happy to announce that Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are receiving a living income differential (LID) of US$400 per tonne of cocoa, which is an additional earning from the world market price for our farmers. The living income differential is going to guarantee some stability to the producer price of cocoa and sustainability of the industry in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,” the president said.

Click on the link below to listen to President Akufo-Addo’s address.