Gov't gambling with the cocoa sector - Haruna Iddrisu

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, says the Akufo-Addo government is gambling with the country’s cocoa sector.

Haruna Iddrisu said the agreement for a new minimum price for cocoa beans with Cote D’Ivoire will affect Ghana's cocoa share on the global market.

The new minimum price, pegged at $2,600 per tonne, was agreed upon after deliberations in June 2019. The new price is hoped to benefit the historically marginalised cocoa farmers and keep them in business.

The merits notwithstanding, Mr. Iddrisu held that the government should have consulted more on the matter.

"The government is gambling with some decisions in the cocoa sector in as much as it is important to build strategic alliances with Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire don’t share the same characteristics when it comes to cocoa. Whilst in Cote D’Ivoire, it is the private sector that buys and sells, in Ghana, it is the government that buys, sells and stores.”

“To say that we will not sell can jeopardise Ghana’s future market share globally. So we are asking for much more broader consultations and that we do not think that the decision government is taking is strategic.”

Currently, a tonne of cocoa, according to the International Cocoa Organisation, is being sold at about $2,390 on the world market.
The meeting was necessitated by the fact that Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire only get $6 billion annually in the $100 billion-dollar chocolate industry despite producing more than 60 percent of the world’s cocoa needs.

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