Dr. Isaac Opoku, Member of Parliament for Offinso and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, has blamed the current administration for the challenges facing Ghana’s cocoa sector, insisting that responsibility cannot be shifted elsewhere.
According to him, key economic decisions taken by the present government, particularly those linked to exchange rate management, have directly affected cocoa operations and farmer payments.
“You can blame the administration. You can put the challenges at the doorstep of the current administration,” Dr. Opoku stated. “The current exchange rates we are seeing, who caused them?”
He argued that cocoa farmers were paid under exchange rate conditions set by the current government, making it untenable to attribute present difficulties to previous administrations.
“When they were paying the cocoa farmer in January, February, March, up to October, what was the exchange rate?” he questioned. “They cannot put the blame anywhere else apart from the current administration.”
Dr. Opoku also called on the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to be honest and transparent with cocoa farmers about the true nature of the problems confronting the sector.
“They should come clear. They should tell the cocoa farmer what the real problem is and stop beating about the bush,” he urged.
He further suggested that the situation could have been significantly worse if not for measures taken by the previous administration, particularly the decision to trade some cocoa forward.
“In fact, they are even lucky that the previous administration traded some cocoa forward. Otherwise, the situation would have been worse than what we are seeing today,” he said.
Addressing public debate around cocoa contract rollovers, Dr. Opoku rejected claims that the practice is unusual, describing it as a standard feature of the global cocoa trade. He explained that production targets are often affected by unforeseen factors such as adverse weather, bushfires, smuggling, and other disruptions.
“You do your projections. If you anticipate producing a certain quantity and for some reason you are unable to meet that target, you roll over the contracts at the prevailing price. It happens all the time,” he explained.
The Offinso MP recalled that when the Nana Addo-led government assumed office in 2017, it inherited cocoa contract rollovers amounting to about 190,208 tonnes, without attracting similar public outcry. He also cited Côte d’Ivoire’s rollover of about 500,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in 2024 as evidence that the practice is common across cocoa-producing countries.
“Contract rollovers are standard industry practice. It happens all the time,” he emphasized.
Dr. Opoku warned that even current production projections could still be affected by unforeseen events, which may again result in contract rollovers.
“If you project 650,000 tonnes and something happens and you are unable to produce that, you roll over at the prevailing price,” he said.
