Ghana threatens to expose chocolate brands underpaying farmers

•Ghana has accused chocolate brands of poorly paying farmers

•It said chocolate brands have failed to follow the introduced cocoa premium scheme

•Ghana and Ivory Coast are the world’s top cocoa producers

Ghana has said it will expose chocolate makers who pay farmers ‘peanuts’ for their produce, the BBC has reported.

Ivory Coast and Ghana, being the top producers of cocoa in the world, introduced a scheme intended to make cocoa farming rewarding to the farmers.

This premium payment scheme the two countries believe will help lift cocoa farmers out of poverty.

In the face of the global coronavirus pandemic, the demand for cocoa has seen a shortfall which has caused supply to outweigh demand.

The top cocoa producers have accused buyers of asking farmers for unfair discounts as well as unwillingness to follow the premium payment scheme.

The BBC reported that the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s cocoa regulator COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, believes “This amounts to robbing the consumers by collecting premium on bars of chocolate and then refusing to pay when buying cocoa beans.”