The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo has stated that his outfit was committed to giving cocoa farmers the best prices possible as a solution to cocoa smuggling.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday to respond to some infractions contained in the Auditor-General’s Report for the year ending December 2022, Mr Aidoo said even though the board’s collaboration with national security agencies to fight the menace was yielding positive and far-reaching results, favourable prices were the best move to help curtail the incidence in the long term.
He said good cocoa prices would help serve as a disincentive for farmers who engaged in smuggling Ghana’s cocoa to neighbouring countries.
“We have made a lot of arrests. We have arrested people smuggling cocoa in jerrycans among others. But that will not solve the problem. The solution is bringing a new price,” he stressed.
In 2023, Ghana reportedly lost about 150,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans, which represented about $600 million in revenue in the last crop season, as a result of smuggling to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo.
In September of the same year, the government increased the price at which it buys a bag of cocoa from GH¢800 per 64 kilogrammes (kg) to GH¢1,308.
The 63.5 per cent increment translated to GH¢20,943 per tonne of raw cocoa beans, up from GH¢12,800 per tonne.
