Dr. Isaac Opoku, Member of Parliament for Offinso and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, has held the curre
Dr. Isaac Opoku, Member of Parliament for Offinso and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, has held the current administration accountable for the difficulties facing Ghana’s cocoa sector, insisting that responsibility cannot be shifted elsewhere.
According to Dr. Opoku, key economic decisions taken by the government, particularly those related to exchange rate management, have directly impacted cocoa operations and farmer payments.
“You can blame the administration. You can put the challenges at the doorstep of the current administration,” he said. “The current exchange rates we are seeing—who caused them?”
He stressed 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 asked. “They cannot put the blame anywhere else apart from the current administration.”
Dr. Opoku called on the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to be candid and transparent with cocoa farmers about the sector’s challenges.
“They should come clear. They should tell the cocoa farmer what the real problem is and stop beating about the bush,” he urged.
He also noted that the situation could have been significantly worse if not for measures implemented by the previous administration, including 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 concerns over cocoa contract rollovers, Dr. Opoku rejected claims that the practice is unusual, describing it as standard in the global cocoa trade. He explained that production targets can be 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.
Dr. Opoku recalled that when the Nana Addo-led government took office in 2017, it inherited cocoa contract rollovers amounting to about 190,208 tonnes without similar public outcry. He also pointed to Côte d’Ivoire’s rollover of roughly 500,000 metric tonnes of cocoa in 2024 as evidence that the practice is common in cocoa-producing countries.
“Contract rollovers are standard industry practice. It happens all the time,” he emphasized.
The Offinso MP warned that current production projections could also be affected by unforeseen events, potentially resulting in additional 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.
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