The Chairman of Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, has appealed to cocoa farmers to remain patient following concerns over the newly announced producer price.

Speaking on the Midday News on Joy FM, Dr Jasaw acknowledged that some farmers are unhappy with the price announced by the Finance Minister. However, he said the reforms introduced by government are aimed at protecting the long-term future of the cocoa industry.

“I urge my friends, the cocoa farmers, to try and tolerate what is happening because it’s in the larger interest of Ghana and the sustainability of the cocoa industry,” he said.

He explained that the reforms are designed to secure better outcomes for farmers and the sector as a whole.

“These reforms are aimed at ensuring a fair price for the cocoa, particularly for the farmer to benefit, to secure the financial viability of the sector and, of course, also to ensure its sustainability,” he stated.

Dr Jasaw said that Ghana has relied on a particular financing model for more than three decades, which he said contributed to recent challenges in the sector.

“You’d realise that the issue of the cocoa sector is such that we have practised a certain financing model for 32 years. This country went down financially, and so for 2023 we could not raise the syndicated loan,” he explained.

According to him, the current measures are part of efforts to keep the industry afloat. “So everybody is trying to manage to ensure that the sector survives,” he added.

Providing figures to show ongoing activity in the sector, Dr Jasaw said cocoa purchases are nearing projected targets.

“In fact, 530,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans have been bought already. According to the projections, what is left is about 70,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

He clarified that these remaining volumes are not necessarily from entirely new farmers. “These are farmers whose pods get ripe, they harvest, and then new pods get ripe again. So some of these farmers have actually sold already,” he explained.

When questioned about campaign promises made to cocoa farmers before the election, Dr Jasaw insisted that government had kept its word.

“As a committee, what we realised, having checked the data, is that the NDC government promised to pay at least 70 per cent of the FOB price. And that’s exactly what they did,” he said.

“So government has actually stayed true to its word,” he added.

However, he acknowledged that broader economic conditions have affected how much farmers receive in real terms.

“What has happened, which we need to be cognisant of, is that the macroeconomy has been managed in a way that the exchange rate gain is rather resulting in lesser cedis of the FOB price to the farmer,” he explained.

“In terms of percentage, we’ve operated the 70–30 so far, which is actually the promise given to farmers,” Dr Jasaw added.

He also recalled that the current Finance Minister had spoken about pricing during his vetting.

“If you heard the current Finance Minister when he was being vetted, he premised his promise on the day that if he was in charge, based on the exchange rate and all other economic factors being held equal, he would afford 6,000,” he said.