Editorial: Cocoa farmers deserve more

Cocoa is an important crop for Ghana; yet sadly, the country struggles to take a bite out of the multibillion-dollar global chocolate industry.

Despite being a major source of cocoa beans in the world, our cocoa farmers have little to show for their sweat. Recent initiatives, led by Cocobod and its counterpart in Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s largest producer, are attempting to rewrite the narrative.

The introduction of the Living Income Differential (LID) is one of them. The LID charges international buyers of cocoa an extra US$400 per tonne on top of the world market price to shore up the incomes of farmers.

As a result of the LID, for the new (2020-21) harvest season beginning this month, the government has raised the purchase price of cocoa from farmers by 28 percent to GH¢10,560 per tonne, putting more money in farmers’ pockets.

The desperate need to address the cocoa sector’s challenges, such as ageing and diseased trees as well as lack of a structured retirement scheme for farmers, means that the recent attention being paid to the farmer could not have come at a better time.

At least the policymakers are beginning to make an effort to right the ills that farmers have long suffered.

It is also welcoming to see that Parliament has transferred oversight of Cocobod from the Trade Ministry to the Food and Agriculture Ministry.

The amendment means the Minister of Food and Agriculture will now be responsible for approval of prices of cocoa, coffee, and shea to be paid to farmers, issuance of general directions to Cocobod relating to the performance of its functions, and the making of regulations to ensure the effective performance of the functions of the board.

With better oversight and policies, Ghana should be able to expand output of not just cocoa beans but processed cocoa products for export.

The steps taken so far are positive, but cocoa farmers deserve more—and we can only ask government to ensure that farmers do get what is rightfully due them for their decades of toil.