Editorial: Cocoa Farmers Need Prompt Payment Not Promises

According a report on myjoyonline.com, cocoa farmers across the country have not been paid for beans sold as far back as November 2025, raising serious concerns about their livelihoods, production and the broader economy. Farmers from several cocoa-growing regions told JoyNews Research that despite repeated assurances from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), payments remain outstanding. Some licensed buying companies have reportedly stopped responding to farmers entirely.

The delays come amid major changes to Ghana’s cocoa financing structure. Under the revised system, introduced for the 2024/2025 season, international traders rather than COCOBOD, were expected to pre-finance cocoa purchases. However, rising interest rates, falling global prices and traders’ reluctance to make advance deposits have left COCOBOD struggling to raise funds. As a result, large volumes of cocoa remain unsold, leaving farmers unpaid.

This situation is particularly troubling, given cocoa’s importance to Ghana’s economy. Cocoa remains one of the country’s leading foreign exchange earners, with export receipts exceeding $4 billion in the latest season.

At the same time, cocoa farming is already under pressure from illegal mining, which continues to lure farmers away by offering quick cash for their land. Prolonged payment delays risk worsening smuggling, reducing production, and undermining confidence in the sector.

The Chronicle is of the view that cocoa is not just another crop. It is the backbone of the country’s agricultural economy, a pillar of rural livelihoods, and one of the country’s most reliable sources of foreign exchange. Any threat to cocoa production is therefore a direct threat to national economic stability.

That is why reports that cocoa farmers have gone unpaid for months should alarm every policymaker.

When farmers deliver their beans and wait from November into the middle of the following year for payment, something has gone fundamentally wrong in the system.

Farmers are not financiers. They cannot absorb delays caused by policy miscalculations, global market shifts, or financing shortfalls. Cocoa farming requires cash flow to feed families, maintain farms, pay labourers, and prepare for the next season. When payments fail to arrive, farmers are pushed into debt, desperation, or worse, forced exit from the sector.

This crisis comes at a particularly dangerous time. Illegal mining or galamsey has already eaten deep into cocoa-growing lands. Many farmers have been tempted to lease or sell their farms to miners simply because cocoa income is slow, uncertain, or unreliable. Delaying payments now sends exactly the wrong signal to those who have chosen to stay and farm.

If Ghana truly wants to protect cocoa, then farmers must be protected first. Timely payment is not a privilege; it is the foundation of trust between the farmer and the state. Without that trust, production will fall, smuggling will rise, and Ghana risks losing between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes annually, a loss the economy cannot afford.

The irony is stark. While farmers wait unpaid, cocoa export earnings have surged to nearly $4 billion, the highest since the pandemic. This disconnect between strong export performance and unpaid producers is unsustainable and morally troubling.

COCOBOD and government must act urgently. This is why The Chronicle suggests that emergency funding mechanisms must be deployed to clear arrears. Communication with farmers must improve. Above all, future financing arrangements must be realistic, resilient, and farmer-centred.

Cocoa has sustained Ghana for generations. Ghana must now show that it is prepared to sustain its cocoa farmers not with promises, but with prompt payment.

 

 

 

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