We are borrowing to pay cocoa farmers – Agric Minister

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto says Ghana’s cocoa industry has worsened to the extent that Ghana Cocoa Board for the first time in its history has to borrow money to pay its farmers.

“This is the first time Ghana Cocoa Board is having to go out and borrow money at 21 percent to 22 percent to pay farmers for the produce. That is how bad the industry has become”, he said.

According to him, the financial challenges facing COCOBOD forced them to borrow from the Bank of Ghana to pay farmers for cocoa purchased.

As at 2016, the world price of cocoa was around $3000 per metric tonne on the London exchange and dropped to around $1,800 last week.

This he said has made it difficult for COCOBOD to finance its operations indicating that the price Ghana is paying to its farmers is below the price they are getting on the international market.

“A year ago, the world price of cocoa was around $3,000 per metric tonne on the London exchange. As we speak now is not even $1,900 that is a substantial drop of more than one third on the price”.

“Unfortunately, when Akufo-Addo came in prices have already started tumbling and as of last week, it was as low as $1,880. The price Ghana is facing paying to its farmers is just below the price that we are getting on the international stage”, he stated.

He, however, blamed the previous NDC government for mismanaging and mishandling the country’s cocoa resources.