The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says the new cocoa crop season will be opened with its proposed self-financing plan without the usual syndicated loan facilities. 

Finance Minister, Dr. Amin Adam earlier indicated that the government will be seeking external funding to support the cocoa sector. 

But Chief Executive of Cocobod, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, says the Board will be combining the new purchasing regime with loan syndications if necessary in anticipation of an effective implementation of the self-financing transition. 

“Once you have an existing module, you can combine that module with the new one. I believe that if it works Ghana will go with that module going forward. But we are starting the season with self-financing,” he said.

He continued: “we used that module during the large season from June to the end of August and it has worked. But, we want to scale it. If we are blending not borrowing with borrowing I don’t think it should become an issue”.

The Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD has been meeting farmers from seventy cocoa-growing districts across the country. 

The stakeholder consultative dialogue aimed at fostering Ghana’s cocoa sector which has in recent years been fraught with financial and environmental challenges. 

Mr. Boahen Aidoo highlighted plans to transition from Ghana’s 32-year-old syndicated loan regime to a self-financing system. 

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“We used the syndication module to buy and ship cocoa where the monies were paid to the bank accounts of the lenders but this time we want the monies to be paid to us directly. So this time when we ship the overseas buyers will pay the dollars to us directly,” he said.

He believes the new system would help ease pressure on the local currency. 

“So we are going to have steady, consistent in-flow of the dollars until of waiting until one particular day and the money comes in bulk and everyone wants to hurriedly change to the dollar. This would ease the depreciating cedi”.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo is expected to announce new pricing for the 2024/25 cocoa season which will be opened on September 10, 2024. 

Already, some sources are hinting at a nearly 45% upward adjustment of the prices. 

With an increasing cost of farming and adverse implications of illegal mining activity in the cocoa sector, the farmers want an attractive price. 

“Looking at how we suffer the government must present us with at least 6,000 cedis new price,” a farmer said.

Mr. Boahen Aidoo is assuring of a better pricing regime that would boost the incomes and livelihoods of farmers.