Former Head of Corporate Affairs for Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Fiifi Boafo, is questioning government why it failed to fulfil its promise to pay cocoa farmers GH₵6,000 per bag after assuming office in January 2025.
His comment follows the reopening of the 2026/27 cocoa season by the COCOBOD on Friday, September 25, 2026, with an increase in the producer price from GH₵41,392 to GH₵42,400 per tonne, representing 71.18 per cent of the realised gross Free-on-Board value.
The new price translates into GH₵2,650 for a 64-kilogramme bag, up from GH₵2,587 in the previous season, an increase of GH₵63.
The announcement by COCOBOD Chief Executive, Dr Ransford Annetey Abbey, has since drawn criticism from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), describing the price as inadequate and below the campaign promise of GH₵6,000 per bag.
The debate has also revived discussions about the previous season, where the producer price was reduced from GH₵3,100 to GH₵2,587 in February 2026, a move the former administration attributed to market pressures and funding constraints.
Speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on TV3 Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Fiifi Boafo recalled that the 2024/25 cocoa season straddled the transition of power and presented an opportunity for the new administration to act.
“You know the 2024/25 cocoa season started in September 2024 and ended in October 2025. The NPP was voted out of power in December 2024,” he said.
He argued that if the NDC believed GH₵3,100 was too low for farmers, it should have adjusted the price between January and October when it was in office.
“That very season which the NDC said if they were in power, why did they not increase it from GH₵3,100 to GH₵6,000? Because at the time, to you, the farmer was supposed to receive GH₵6,000 and from January to October, you were in power, so why did you not pay them the GH₵6,000?”
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