Cocoa market regulator Cocobud has revealed that some 50,000 metric tonnes of cocoa are languishing at the country’s main ports, apparently unsold.
Talks have been going on between cocoa farmers and finance ministry officials over resolving the situation surrounding their produce.
It comes against the backdrop of a drop in the global demand for cocoa culimating in the fall of a ton of the produce to $4, 000 in the last two years.
Ghana as the world’s second largest cocoa producer has been hard hit by the downturn with the almost $5, 300 annual farmgate price per tonne set by Cocobod beyond the purchasing power of most traders.
Neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire which is the world’s topmost cocoa grower faces a similar challenge.
Ghana has some 800,000 people farming cocoa, a sector which accounts for roughly 15 percent of the country’s earnings from exports.
Cocobod chief executive Ransford Abbey, said the Ghanaian government was taking the issue seriously especially as it affects cocoa farmers with whom negotiations have been underway to address their plight.
According to Abbey, just under 585,000 tonnes of cocoa have been harvested but just 530,000 tonnes have been sold, leaving around 50,000 tonnes unsold with the total crop output expected to be in the neighbourhod of 650,000 tonnes later in the trade season.
Ghana’s Licensed Buying Companies or LBCs has suggested a solution.
It called the government to provide money for the purchase of some 300,000 tonnes of cocoa to stave off the possible collapse of the sector, lamenting the fact that some farmers have not received payments for their produce since November, quoting sources.
At least $200 million is required to purchase the cocoa at its current prices.
WN/as/APA