The Member of Parliament for Offinso, Dr Isaac Opoku, has held the current administration responsible for the challenges facing Ghana’s cocoa sector, insisting that accountability for the situation rests squarely with the government in power.
Speaking as the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, Dr Opoku said major economic policy decisions by the present government—especially those relating to exchange rate management—have had a direct impact on cocoa operations and farmer payments.
“You can blame the administration. You can put the challenges at the doorstep of the current administration,” Dr Opoku said, adding, “The current exchange rates we are seeing, who caused them?”
He maintained that cocoa farmers were paid based on exchange rates determined by the current government, making it unreasonable to shift responsibility to previous administrations.
“When they were paying the cocoa farmer in January, February, March, up to October, what was the exchange rate?” he asked.
“They cannot put the blame anywhere else apart from the current administration.”
Dr Opoku further urged the Ghana Cocoa Board to be more transparent with farmers about the real issues affecting the sector.
“They should come clear. They should tell the cocoa farmer what the real problem is and stop beating about the bush,” he stated.
He also argued that the situation would have been significantly worse without decisions taken by the previous administration, particularly the move to trade some cocoa forward.
“In fact, they are even lucky that the previous administration traded some cocoa forward. Otherwise, the situation would have been worse than what we are seeing today,” he said.
On the public debate surrounding cocoa contract rollovers, the Offinso MP rejected claims that the practice is abnormal, describing it as a standard aspect of global cocoa trading.
“You do your projections. If you anticipate producing a certain quantity and, for some reason, you are unable to meet that target, you roll over the contracts at the prevailing price. It happens all the time,” he explained.
He noted that when the Nana Addo administration took office in 2017, it inherited cocoa contract rollovers of about 190,208 tonnes without similar public backlash.
Dr Opoku also referenced Côte d’Ivoire’s rollover of about 500,000 metric tonnes in 2024 as further evidence that such arrangements are common in the industry.
“Contract rollovers are standard industry practice. It happens all the time,” Dr Opoku emphasised, cautioning that unforeseen circumstances could still affect production forecasts and result in further rollovers.
