…As Farmers Challenge GH¢2,650 Price
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is setting up a new financing vehicle to raise GH¢16.3 billion from Ghana’s domestic capital market as questions mount over the producer price being paid to cocoa farmers for the 2026/27 season.
Cocoa Capital PLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of COCOBOD incorporated on August 7, 2026, will lead the fundraising under a planned Cocoa Notes Programme aimed at financing and refinancing approved activities within the cocoa sector.
The programme comprises GH¢14 billion in commercial papers and GH¢2.3 billion in bonds, with the commercial papers having maturities of up to 270 days and the bonds running for up to five years.
The short-term component is expected to be issued in three tranches of GH¢4 billion, GH¢4 billion and GH¢6 billion, with the timing of each issuance dependent on COCOBOD’s financing requirements and prevailing market conditions.
Absa, CalBank, Ficap Securities, GCB Bank PLC, One Africa Markets and Stanbic Bank have been appointed joint lead managers and bookrunners for the programme.
The new financing structure comes as the cocoa sector faces a parallel debate over producer pricing, with farmers and their representatives questioning whether the latest price adequately reflects the value of cocoa sold on the international market.
COCOBOD has set the 2026/27 producer price at GH¢42,400 per tonne, equivalent to GH¢2,650 per 64-kilogramme bag, saying the amount represents 71.18 per cent of the realised gross Free-On-Board (FOB) value and complies with the new legal requirement guaranteeing cocoa farmers at least 70 per cent of realised gross FOB.
However, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, Isaac Yaw Opoku, has challenged the calculation behind the price.
The Offinso South MP argues that the gross FOB value used by COCOBOD does not reflect the actual value that should underpin the statutory farmer share.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday, September 28, he put the appropriate producer price at approximately GH¢2,968.44 per 64kg bag, about GH¢318.44 higher than the price announced by COCOBOD.
Mr Opoku said the Minority used the lower end of the international cocoa price range to arrive at its calculation.
He used a cocoa price of US$5,500 per tonne, added the US$400 per tonne Living Income Differential (LID) to arrive at US$5,900, and applied an exchange rate of GH¢11.50 to the dollar.
That gives a value of GH¢67,850 per tonne. Applying the 70 per cent farmer share produces about GH¢47,495 per tonne, equivalent to approximately GH¢2,968.44 per 64kg bag.
Mr Opoku is consequently calling for COCOBOD to publish verifiable information on the contracts and prices used to determine the realised gross FOB value.
He argued that Ghana sells premium cocoa and could therefore obtain prices above international market benchmarks.
COCOBOD, however, bases its calculation on the realised gross FOB value, rather than simply the prevailing international spot price.
The pricing dispute adds another layer of scrutiny to the cocoa regulator’s financial restructuring as it seeks to raise substantial domestic funding.
COCOBOD says the Cocoa Capital structure is intended to provide greater assurance that funds raised will be managed and deployed strictly for approved cocoa-sector financing and refinancing activities.
The company has an initial paid-up capital of GH¢5 million and is expected to provide COCOBOD with a dedicated vehicle through which it can access domestic capital markets.
The regulator says the financing initiative forms part of broader reforms aimed at improving financial discipline and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the cocoa value chain.
Production targets are also being adjusted amid the reforms.
COCOBOD is targeting 683,000 metric tonnes of cocoa production for 2027, representing a 41.3 per cent reduction from its 2026 target.
Actual production for 2026 has, however, reached 771,000 metric tonnes, exceeding the original target of 650,000 tonnes.
The financing programme and producer-price dispute therefore come at a critical point for the cocoa sector, with COCOBOD seeking to strengthen its access to domestic funding while facing demands for greater transparency over the value used to determine farmers’ statutory share.
The new producer price took effect on September 25, 2026.
