Finance Minister-Designate, Cassiel Ato Forson PhD has indicated that he does not have the power to change the producer price for cocoa in Ghana.
He indicates that he would have been more than happy to change the producer price for cocoa but that has been changed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
However, all he can do is advocate for better prices of cocoa for farmers.
Cassiel Ato Forson made this known when he appeared before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee on January 13, 2025.
“Mr Chairman as we speak the chairman of the producer price committee is the Agric Minister and not the Finance Minister. The government changed its position. In fact, President Akufo-Addo brought a bill to the House for us to consider. Until that changes, I will not be in charge of the producer price for me to commit.
But what I can say is that you know my passion for cocoa. But I recognize the work of the cocoa farmer and I have fondly spoken about cocoa and everyone knows that. I think the cocoa farmer must be prioritized.
One of the reasons why our cocoa is going down is that we are not paying the cocoa farmers a fair price. There are no incentives for the cocoa farmers to cultivate and our volumes are dwindling from almost a million metric tons to 400 and something metric tons,” he stated.
Adding that “I will work with the Ghana Cocobod as a real sector active player to help incentivise them, to encourage them to be able to cultivate the cocoa and for them to be able to be encouraged to stay in the sector. The cocoa sector is the largest single employer of Ghana’s economy”.
On whether he stands by paying cocoa farmers the amount of six thousand cedis per page as the producer price, he indicated that he stands by his word that the farmers need to be paid well indicating that “I have said cocoa farmer deserves to be paid fairly and I am not running away from that”.
