The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Randy Abbey, has dismissed claims that the proposed Cocoa Board Bill 2026 will prevent cocoa farmers from growing food crops alongside their cocoa trees.
According to him, the controversy surrounding the Bill is being fuelled by misinformation and does not reflect the intention of the proposed reforms.
Dr Abbey said the legislation is instead designed to address some of the longstanding problems confronting Ghana’s cocoa industry, including the destruction of cocoa farms, financing challenges, weak financial controls, low levels of domestic processing and poor returns for farmers.
A key provision of the proposed law, he explained, would require authorisation before cocoa trees are destroyed, uprooted, damaged or felled, except where the action is part of an approved rehabilitation programme.
The move, he said, has become necessary as cocoa farms continue to come under pressure from illegal mining, logging and property development.
“Every single week, I receive petitions from farmers who come complaining that their cocoa farms are being destroyed for one activity or the other. If it is not mining, it’s lumbering. If it’s not lumbering, it’s real estate. This is the same industry that has held this economy from Gold Coast to Ghana for over a century. We obviously needed to do something,” he said.
‘This is not a ban on intercropping’
Dr Abbey said the protection being proposed for cocoa trees should not be confused with a restriction on farmers who practise intercropping.
He explained that the provisions are focused on preventing the destruction of cocoa farms rate than stopping farmers from cultivating other crops alongside cocoa as part of recognised farming practices.
He also accused some individuals and groups of deliberately misrepresenting the contents of the Bill, warning that the misinformation could undermine efforts to reform the sector.
“It is therefore unfortunate, still speaking about the bill, that we have persons or group of persons who have gone on a misinformation and disinformation drive, misinforming stakeholders and the public about what these reforms are about,” he said.
Financial controls and a new pricing model
Beyond protecting farms, Dr Abbey said the proposed law would bring tighter financial controls to COCOBOD.
The reforms would require greater compliance with the Public Financial Management Act, with the aim of preventing financial decisions that could expose the cocoa industry to significant risks.
The Bill also proposes a new cocoa pricing arrangement under which farmers would receive 70% of the gross free-on-board value of cocoa.
Under the proposed framework, producer prices could also be adjusted in response to movements in international cocoa prices.
Dr Abbey said the system is intended to ensure farmers benefit when prices on the global market increase, while limiting the financial exposure of the sector when international prices decline.
He described the proposed legislation as the biggest shake-up of Ghana’s cocoa industry since the 1984 law.
The broader objective, he said, is to put the industry on a more financially sustainable footing, improve the welfare of cocoa farmers, expand domestic processing and accelerate industrialisation across the cocoa value chain.
Source: Metro TV
