Oppong Nkrumah warns of Cocoa value Chain collapse in Ghana

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minority Spokesperson on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, has called on the government to urgently step in to support the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), warning that the country’s cocoa value chain is at risk of collapse due to unpaid debts.

Speaking on TV3 on February 22, 2026, Oppong Nkrumah explained that since November 2025, Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) have purchased around GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa beans from farmers but have yet to receive payment from COCOBOD.

“From November 2025, the LBCs have been buying cocoa. We are told about GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa has been taken up by the LBCs, and they can’t pay for it,” he stated.

He noted that the failure by COCOBOD to settle outstanding payments has left LBCs unable to deliver the cocoa they already procured, preventing them from returning to the farmgate to purchase more beans and effectively freezing the entire value chain.

“The LBCs tell us that the problem is that government is not paying, so there are about GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa they have taken into their stock, and they cannot evacuate that to COCOBOD because the last GH¢10 billion that COCOBOD took they have not paid for it. And because they are stuck with this GH¢10 billion, they cannot take more stock from the cocoa farmers who have harvested and dried their cocoa,” he explained.

Oppong Nkrumah described the situation as an immediate liquidity crisis, warning that the stagnation is already causing hardship for farmers.

“The value chain is frozen, and poverty is setting in,” he said.

He urged the government to provide financial support to COCOBOD so it can honor its existing obligations to the LBCs.

“The first thing to do is to find a way to get COCOBOD the support to pay the LBCs for the last GH¢10 billion so that the LBCs can recycle that money and go back and pay for the cocoa they have taken from farmers,” he stressed.

The Minority spokesperson also criticized the government’s focus on future cocoa producer price adjustments and long-term reforms, arguing that these measures do not address the immediate liquidity problem facing the industry.

“If you don’t do that and come with an announcement that you have reviewed the price to GH¢2,500 and introduced reforms for the future, you are not tackling the immediate problem,” he said.