Free Fertiliser And Empty Farms, Cocoa Farmers Exposes Promise And Fail – The Fourth Estate Reports

According to the Fourth Estate’s investigation, the promise was simple: free fertiliser, better seedlings, and agro-inputs to revive cocoa.

The NDC’s 2024 manifesto pledged to “reintroduce free fertilizer, improved seedlings and agro-inputs to increase yields” and to strengthen pest surveillance and farm biosecurity.

Two seasons later, farmers say the promise is not reaching the farm gate and the harvest is paying for it.

In July 2026, COCOBOD projected output would fall by at least 16% in the 2026/27 season, blaming swollen shoot disease, ageing trees, illegal mining and poor pod formation.

Farmers interviewed by The Fourth Estate say supplies either never arrived or came too late, and in quantities far below need. In Amansie West, farmer Ampadu Darko Senior says he received nothing and has joined others petitioning President John Mahama. In Sekyere South, Chief Farmer Agyen Brefo says only seven farmers got fertiliser in August 2026 three months late. He needed over 100 bags, got 33.

Seedlings are also scarce. One farmer says free seedlings stopped after 2024, with nothing in 2025 or 2026.

COCOBOD insists delivery is on track. It says it allocated 984,800 bags of granular fertiliser covering 126,427 hectares, distributed 46.4 million hybrid seedlings, and covers 1,394,777 hectares per insecticide round.

CEO Dr Randy Abbey says distribution follows a scientific schedule tied to farm mapping and agronomic timing, backed by a new digital system that “follows every bag or litre of input from the warehouse to the farm.

Yet the Board also acknowledges communication gaps in delivery and for farmers, that gap is the story.

Fertiliser in August cannot save cherelles that needed feeding in May. Procurement totals in Accra mean little if bags don’t arrive in time. The manifesto promised higher yields. The 2026/27 forecast promises the opposite.

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