Mahama fulfills promise to farmers: Increases producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040
Mahama fulfills promise to farmers: Increases producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040
President John Dramani Mahama has fulfilled his promise to cocoa farmers as his Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, announced that the government has increased the producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040 per tonne.
The new price takes effect from Thursday, 7th August 2025.
In a Facebook post, the finance minister said it is instructive to note that the government has, by this decision, increased the producer price significantly by 62.58% in US dollar terms.
He also said this increase in the producer price represents 70% of the gross Free-On-Board (FOB) value of US$7,200 per tonne and aligns with President Mahama’s promise to pay cocoa farmers 70% of the FOB price.
President John Dramani Mahama earlier announced that, beginning with the next cocoa season, Ghanaian cocoa farmers will receive no less than 70 per cent of the prevailing world market price for their produce.
Addressing a grand durbar of chiefs and residents in Juaboso on Tuesday, July 17, 2025, the President declared: “Let me be clear: we will honour our promise to pay our hardworking farmers 70 per cent of the world market price of cocoa. The sweat of our cocoa farmers deserves dignity and a fair reward.”
President Mahama described cocoa as “the lifeblood of our rural economy” and emphasised that sustaining farmers’ livelihoods is central to Ghana’s growth agenda.
The announcement of the increment in the prices came after the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC) on Cocoa, under the Minister’s chairmanship, met and agreed on the producer price of cocoa for the 2025/2026 season, which opens on Thursday, 7th August 2025.
The Minister’s statement further said that it is significant to note that for the 2024/25 cocoa season, the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration set an FOB value of US$4,850 per tonne of cocoa and the producer price at US$3,100, representing 63.9% of FOB, even though the world market price at the time was much better.
The gross FOB value was arrived at using outstanding cocoa contracts of about 100,000 tonnes sold at US$2,600 per tonne in the 2023/2024 crop season and the average forecast for the 2025/2026 crop season.
At an average exchange rate of GHS10.25 to the US dollar for the 2025/2026 crop season, the government is pleased to announce an increase in the producer price of cocoa from GHS49,600 per tonne to GHS51,660 per tonne.
“This further translates to an amount of GHS3,228.75 per bag of 64-kilogram gross weight of cocoa. Government further announces that this new price takes effect from Thursday, 7th August 2025,” he said.
