Kojo Oppong Nkrumah is the MP for the Ofoase-Ayirebi
The Minority Spokesperson on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on the government to urgently intervene to support the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
According to him, the nation’s cocoa value chain is at risk of collapsing due to unpaid debts.
Speaking in an interview on TV3 on February 22, 2026, Oppong Nkrumah explained that since November 2025, Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) have purchased about GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa beans from farmers but have yet to receive payment from COCOBOD.
“From November 2025, the LBCs have been buying cocoa. We are told about GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa has been taken up by the LBCs and they can’t pay for it,” he stated.
According to the Minority spokesperson, the failure by COCOBOD to settle outstanding payments has resulted in LBCs being unable to deliver the cocoa they have brought to the board.
This, in turn, has prevented them from returning to the farmgate to buy more beans, effectively freezing the value chain.
“The LBCs tell us that the problem is that government is not paying, so there are about GH¢10 billion worth of cocoa they have taken into their shirt and they cannot evacuate that to COCOBOD because the last GH¢10 billion that COCOBOD took they have not paid for it.
“And because they are stuck with this GH¢10 billion, they cannot take more stock from the cocoa farmers who have harvested and dried their cocoa,” he explained.
He described the situation as an immediate liquidity crisis, warning that the stagnation is already pushing farmers into hardship.
“The value chain is frozen and poverty is setting in,” he said.
He urged the government to provide financial support to COCOBOD so the board can honour its existing obligations to the LBCs.
“The first thing to do is to find a way to get COCOBOD the support to pay the LBCs for the last GH¢10 billion so that the LBCs can recycle that money and go back and pay for the cocoa they have taken from farmers,” he said.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also criticised the government’s focus on future cocoa producer price adjustments and long-term reforms, arguing that such measures do not address the urgent liquidity problem confronting the industry.
“If you don’t do that and come with an announcement that you have reviewed the price to GH¢2,500 and introduced reforms for the future, you are not tackling the immediate problem,” he stressed.
ID/AE
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Source:
www.ghanaweb.com