Ghana has increased the farmgate price paid to cocoa farmers by 58.26% to GH¢33,120 per tone for the 2023/2024 crop season.

The new price takes effect from April 5, 2024.

The move, according to sources, is to share profits from rising global prices and deter farmers from bean smuggling.

Cocoa prices have more than tripled over the last year as disease and adverse weather in Ghana and neihbouring Côte d'Ivoire pushed the global market to a third successive deficit.

Ghana's state-guaranteed cocoa price is presently GH¢20,943 cedi ($1,574.66) per tone or about GH¢21 per kilogramme.

Côte d'Ivoire on Tuesday, April2, 2024, raised its farmgate price to 1,500 CFA francs ($2.47, or about GH¢33) per kilogramme for the April-to-September mid crop of the 2023/24 season, up from 1,000 CFA francs last season.