Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu Esq., the former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has harshly criticized the government for the sharp drop in cocoa producer prices from GHC 3,625 per bag to GHC 2,867 per bag. He also criticized some government officials and political figures for claiming that cocoa farmers are pleased with the price cut, calling it an embarrassment and an insult to cocoa farmers.
During a panel discussion on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo morning show, Dr. Kokofou voiced deep displeasure in the incumbent for not fulfilling their campaign pledges in the run-up to the elections on December 7, 2024.
“Farmers believed in accepting the NDC’s promise to pay the cocoa farmers GHC 6000 per bag during the campaign era, at a time when the then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, increased the cocoa price per bag to Ghc 3,100.”
Dr. Kokofu’s remarks were in response to the Finance Minister’s recent announcement of a drop in the price of cocoa.
For the remainder of the 2025–2026 crop season, the government lowered the producer price of cocoa to GH¢41,392 per tonne and GH¢2,587 per bag, citing a severe decline in global market prices and growing liquidity pressures within the industry.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister, announced the decision at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, February 12, 2026. He stated that the change was required to protect farmers’ incomes as far as possible while reflecting current international price realities.
He went on to say that August 2025 marked the start of the 2025–2026 cocoa season, with a producer price of GH¢51,660 per tonne. Using an exchange rate of 10.25 cedis to the dollar, the price was then determined to be 70% of a gross free-on-board price of 7,200 US dollars per tonne.
The former head of the EPA countered that whenever the government sets a new cocoa producer price, the price of cocoa has never decreased.
“Never in our history have we reduced our cocoa price by Ghc 1,000. This is unprecedented. You have shown Ghanaians that you cannot be trusted. You have made cocoa farming unattractive to farmers and youth in the cocoa-growing communities,” he stated.
“It is an insult and a shame for anyone to say that the farmers are happy about the reduction in cocoa price”, he argued.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
