Farmers go hungry as COCOBOD and CMC bosses lock horns - Fiifi Boafo alleges

Deepening tensions at the top of Ghana’s cocoa sector are threatening the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, as an escalating power struggle between senior leadership figures overshadows urgent efforts needed to stabilise payments, according to Fiifi Boafo, former Public Affairs Officer at the Ghana Cocoa Board.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM with Omanhene Kwabena Asante, host of Dwaso Nsem, Boafo said that at a time when cocoa farmers are battling delayed payments and growing financial hardship, the leadership of COCOBOD and its key marketing arm, the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), appear locked in a damaging contest for control rather than working together to protect the industry.

According to him, what should have been a coordinated response to market challenges has instead deteriorated into institutional rivalry, weakening decision-making at the highest levels of the cocoa sector.

Boafo points to an ongoing leadership clash between the Chief Executive of COCOBOD and the Managing Director of CMC — a subsidiary responsible for marketing Ghana’s cocoa on the international market — as a major factor paralysing critical operations.

He explains that historically, the Managing Director of CMC was appointed from within COCOBOD’s technical ranks and worked directly under the strategic authority of the COCOBOD Board and Chief Executive. This structure ensured unity of command and technical alignment in decision-making.

However, Boafo argues that the current arrangement — where the CMC Managing Director was appointed directly at the highest political level — has created competing power centres within the same institution.

“The result is not collaboration. It is confrontation,” Boafo stresses.

He says that instead of focusing on innovative solutions to cushion farmers and protect COCOBOD’s financial position, leadership energy is being diverted into influence battles, authority disputes, and institutional positioning.

According to him, this internal rivalry has severely disrupted the work of the Sales and Pricing Committee — the critical body responsible for determining when cocoa should be sold and at what price.

Boafo warns that delays and weak coordination caused by leadership infighting have led to missed opportunities and poor execution of key market decisions.

“What makes this situation particularly troubling is the timing,” he notes. “Farmers are struggling. Payments are delayed. Confidence in the system is weakening. Yet leadership appears consumed by internal control battles.”

He argues that instead of urgently closing ranks to shield farmers from the impact of market shocks, senior officials are allowing personal authority disputes to dominate the sector’s direction.

'Paying farmers at current prices pushes COCOBOD into debt' - Fiifi Boafo

Boafo says the ripple effects are already being felt across cocoa-growing communities, where farmers depend almost entirely on timely payments to sustain their households and prepare for the next farming season.

He warns that prolonged leadership instability could further weaken COCOBOD’s operational effectiveness and damage Ghana’s reputation in the global cocoa market.

“This is not just an institutional problem anymore,” Boafo cautions. “It is a national economic risk. And at the centre of it are leadership conflicts that should never have been allowed to escalate to this level.”

He is therefore calling for urgent high-level intervention to restore discipline, clarity of authority, and unity of purpose within COCOBOD and its subsidiaries.

Boafo insists that unless leadership refocuses on protecting farmers and stabilising the cocoa sector, the human cost of the crisis will continue to grow.

“Farmers should not be the casualties of power struggles,” he states. “The industry cannot afford leadership that fights itself while farmers go hungry.”

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