President John Dramani Mahama has emphasised the need for Ghana to process more of its cocoa domestically to shield farmers from the volatile international prices.
Speaking to the Ghanaian community in Philadelphia on Thursday, the President said the recent slump in international cocoa prices, which led the government to lower the producer price from GH¢3,625 to GH¢2,587 per bag, underscores the need for urgent policy reform.
“It is because for almost seventy years after we gained independence, we’re still exporting raw beans to the world… what has happened in the international market should be a wake-up call for us,” President Mahama said, highlighting the limitations of Ghana’s current cocoa export model.
The President revealed that the government is overhauling the financing system for cocoa purchases, moving away from dependency on international traders who typically pre-finance the sector using cocoa beans as collateral.
“Now, we say we are going to raise the money ourselves and buy our own cocoa… if we raise our money and buy our cocoa, it is not collateral to anybody, and so we can decide what to do with it,” Mahama explained.
Under the new model, a significant portion of cocoa beans will be channelled to local processors, enabling Ghana to capture greater value from its cocoa production before export.
“We are saying that we are going to allocate the bulk of our cocoa to local processors to process that cocoa before we export it,” he added.
The President’s remarks signal a renewed focus on domestic value addition in Ghana’s cocoa industry, aiming to provide farmers with better protection against global price shocks while fostering economic growth through local processing.
