The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has raised concerns about restrictions on the use of cocoa farmland under the newly passed Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, arguing that the provisions infringe on the property rights of farmers and landowners.

Chairman of the NPP Policy Committee on Agriculture, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, says Clause 81 of the Bill places excessive restrictions on the ability of landowners to determine how their property should be used.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, August 9, Dr Opoku argued that the provision could expose cocoa farmers to harassment, arbitrary arrests and extortion if allowed to become law in its current form.

Clause 81 seeks to restrict the conversion or destruction of cocoa farms for purposes other than cocoa cultivation without prior authorisation.

The provision effectively gives cocoa farms protected status and restricts landowners from converting cocoa plantations to alternative uses without the required approval, including where the farms are situated on private, family or stool lands.

Dr Opoku questioned the justification for imposing such restrictions on farmers and landowners who have invested their own resources in acquiring and developing their properties.

“It is our considered analysis that this provision is unenforceable as drafted and will lend itself to abuse, to arbitrary arrest, to extortion at the farm gate and to the harassment of an already struggling farming population,” he said.

He argued that there was already evidence of the abuse of some provisions of Ghana's criminal laws and expressed concern that cocoa farmers could face similar treatment if Clause 81 is implemented.

“We say this against a background in which we are already witnessing the abuse of Sections 207 and 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29,” he claimed.

“We have no confidence that cocoa farmers will be spared,” he added.

The NPP agriculture policy chairman further argued that preventing landowners from freely determining the use of their land without compensation raises fundamental property rights concerns.

“These are significant infringements on private property rights imposed without compensation,” he stated.

The NPP maintains that while measures may be necessary to protect Ghana's cocoa industry and prevent the indiscriminate destruction of cocoa farms, such interventions should not disproportionately restrict the rights of farmers and landowners.

The party has consequently called for further scrutiny and broader stakeholder consultation on the legislation before it receives presidential assent.

Parliament passed the Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, on Thursday, July 30, as part of reforms aimed at strengthening the governance and sustainability of the cocoa sector.

The Bill is awaiting presidential assent.