We would have preferred GH¢2,000 as the new cocoa price – Agona West Farmers

Cocoa farmers in the Agona West Municipality of the Central Region have rejected the 2023–2024 cocoa season price announced by the government.

They claim that a bag of cocoa for the season should have been GH¢2000 Ghana Cedis instead ofGH¢1308 announced by President Akufo-Addo recently.

The farmers first commended the government for the increase and noted that it was good.

They, however, argued that the increment could have been far better.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a 63.6% upward adjustment of the farm gate price of cocoa beans from GH₵800 to GH₵1,308 per bag for the new cocoa season.

According to the president, the increment is the highest in West Africa in the last 15 years.

The president made this announcement at Tepa in the Ashanti Region during the opening of the 2023–2024 cocoa season.

The farmers in Agona West Municipality said the government must be commended for the increase.

“However, we would have been happy if he announced that the new price has moved to GHC 2,000. The price announced by the president could have been better than what was announced. We first appreciate the increment, but it is not enough. Like Oliver Twist, we are demanding more,” one of the farmers said.

Another said, “We will first appreciate the government for the new price. But we would have preferred that the increase get to GHC 2,000”.

“The new price announced is woefully inadequate. Some prefer to smuggle their cocoa to neighbouring countries just because the price compared to even the previous one is not up to their level. So we would have preferred GHC 2,000,” a different farmer added.