Dr. Isaac Opoku, Member of Parliament for Offinso and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, has criticised the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for failing to follow long-standing advice on forward trading, a lapse he says has contributed to the current cocoa payment delays.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Monday, February 9, Dr. Opoku stressed that COCOBOD has historically traded forward to manage price risks, allowing the Board to project revenues and set producer prices confidently.
“Since time immemorial, we have been trading forward. You do your projections and you trade at least 70% of your crop forward, and once you do that you can see your way clear. You know the revenue you will be generating, so when you are fixing the producer price, you have no fears at all,” he said.
Dr. Opoku lamented that the Board had ignored this advice in recent seasons.
“You can trade forward for six months, you can trade forward for one, one and a half years, even two years…If we had listened to advice and traded forward, we wouldn’t have been where we are today. Now the situation is very bad. The situation is terrible,” he added.
This comes amid mounting frustration from cocoa farmers over delayed payments for the current cocoa season. The Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association has repeatedly called on COCOBOD to meet its obligations promptly, stressing that assurances alone are no longer enough.
Stephenson Anane Boateng, President of the Association, criticised the Board for not putting measures in place to prevent recurring delays.
“We are not satisfied at all, because from the way things are going, COCOBOD should have done their homework. This is an unfair business they are doing with us. COCOBOD, under the contract, mandates us, the cocoa farmers, not to sell our produce to anybody else. So they know very well that at the beginning of every major season, this is something they are going to face. What measures did the CEO put in place?” he asked.
Meanwhile, COCOBOD has stated that it is exploring new funding models, with a focus on value addition rather than the continued export of raw beans, but farmers insist that immediate payments are critical to sustaining livelihoods and ensuring confidence in the cocoa sector.
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