Ghanaian farmers will for the first time in recent years get almost the same price as their Ivorian counterparts, and in some cases more, for a bag of cocoa following the announcement of a new cocoa producer price government says should stem smuggling. The price of a 64 kilo bag has been fixed at 200 Ghana cedis, effective Friday. The same bag according to Joy Business checks fetches the equivalent of around 190 Ghana cedis in the Ivory Coast. Joy Business’ George Wiafe reports that the relatively better price offered in Ghana would mean that smugglers would lose the key leverage they used in convincing the local farmers to sell their produce to them. Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has explained that the new price was fixed in a calculated manner to deal with the problem of smuggling. The Ivorian cocoa sector however has its own peculiarities. It is not regulated and so the government is not responsible for setting the price farmers get for their produce. The produce buying companies in that country can therefore vary their price anytime depending on their own projections and market analysis. Saf Cacao, one of the key buying firms in the Ivory Coast for instance, was as far back as January this year, reported by Bloomberg as offering as much as 211 Ghana cedis for the same 64 kilo bag, 11 cedis more than the new price announced by the Ghana government. The Ivorian sector is however expected to announce new prices in the coming days, which may be higher than what prevails in Ghana and may render the initiative to eliminate smuggling through pricing more arduous. But Ghanaian farmers also enjoy other incentives that their Ivorian counterparts do not enjoy, including free spraying, and the Finance Minister said such perks will be enhanced. Source: Joy Business/Ghana