By: Kenneth Appiah Bani
The Minister for Finance, Hon. Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced a major boost for Ghanaian cocoa farmers, following a successful meeting of the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC) on Cocoa, which he chairs. The outcome of the meeting is a historic increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2025/2026 season, which officially begins on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
According to the Finance Minister, the government has increased the producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040 per tonne. This represents a significant 62.58% increase in dollar terms, providing much-needed financial relief and incentive to cocoa farmers across the country.
Hon. Forson highlighted that this increase fulfills President John Dramani Mahama’s commitment to cocoa farmers to ensure they receive 70% of the gross Free-On-Board (FOB) value of cocoa exports. For the 2025/2026 season, the gross FOB value has been pegged at US$7,200 per tonne, making the US$5,040 producer price exactly 70% of this amount.
In comparison, under the previous administration in the 2024/2025 cocoa season, the FOB value was US$4,850 per tonne, with cocoa farmers receiving US$3,100, which constituted only 63.9% of the FOB, despite better global market conditions at the time.
The new FOB value was determined based on outstanding cocoa contracts totaling approximately 100,000 tonnes sold at US$2,600 per tonne during the 2023/2024 crop season, along with projected averages for the 2025/2026 season.
Using an average exchange rate of GHS10.25 to the US Dollar for the new season, the increase translates into a new producer price of GHS51,660 per tonne, up from GHS49,600 per tonne.
This means cocoa farmers will now earn GHS3,228.75 per 64kg bag of cocoa, marking a significant step towards improving the welfare of farmers and strengthening the cocoa industry as a whole.
