Cocoa farmers across Ghana are preparing to stage one of the largest demonstrations the sector has ever seen, according to Nana Oboadie Boateng Bonsu, widely known as the “Farmer General” of the Concerned Cocoa Farmers Association.
Speaking on Neat FM on Wednesday, March 11, in an interview with host Adakabre Frimpong Manso, Nana Boateng laid out the grievances driving farmers toward the streets — frustrations that mirror the broader tensions gripping Ghana’s cocoa sector heading into the 2025/2026 crop season.
Chief among them is a sharp reduction in the cocoa producer price — cut from approximately GH¢3,625 to GH¢2,587 per 64kg bag, a drop of roughly 28 to 29 percent. Farmers say the cut has made an already difficult livelihood unsustainable.
Compounding the price reduction are unpaid arrears owed to farmers for cocoa already supplied to COCOBOD, Ghana’s cocoa regulatory board.
Many have yet to receive payment for beans delivered, leaving households without income and pushing hardship to what Boateng Bonsu described as an unbearable level.
He has made it clear that farmers want the price cut reversed, arrears paid promptly, and better treatment from government and regulatory institutions. If those demands go unmet, he warned, the planned demonstration will go ahead — and could be accompanied by calls for farmers to bypass COCOBOD entirely and sell their beans through alternative channels.
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The mobilization is not starting from scratch. Protests have already broken out in several regions, including Western North, parts of Ashanti such as Atwima Mponua, and the Eastern Region, reflecting the widespread nature of the discontent.
The movement has not been without controversy. Some have accused opposition NPP figures of funding or orchestrating the unrest for political purposes. Supporters of the protests, however, insist the anger is real, rooted in economic pain that predates any political calculation — and that farmers simply cannot afford to stay silent any longer.