The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Ransford Abbey, has said that Ghana is set to announce a new price for the 2025/2026 cocoa season in August this year.

Dr. Abbey said that the new price anticipated to exceed that of the price of the cocoa beans in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and thereby put Ghana on top of the cocoa price index in West Africa.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy visit on Odeneho Dr Akosua Fima Dwaben II, the Paramount Queen-mother of the Dormaa Traditional Area at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Bono Region, Dr Abbey said that he was embarking on a familiarization tour to the Bono and Ahafo Regions.

Accompanied by some key staffers of the COCOBOD, Dr Abbey explained that his tour “is a crucial step in his efforts to connect with and understand the challenges facing cocoa farmers in the regions”.

He said that the government was currently supplying cocoa farmers with fertilizers to enhance cocoa production.

Additionally, some agro-chemicals would also be distributed to cocoa farmers nationwide, he said.

Responding, Odeneho Dr Dwaben II said that cocoa contributed significantly to the nation’s economic growth and development, enhancing the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and called on the government to do more to help improve the socio-economic livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana.

She encouraged the COCOBOD to supply farmers with the required agro-chemicals and inputs to enhance productivity and quality beans.

Dr Abbey and his entourage later visited and interacted with cocoa farmers at Kato in the Berekum Cocoa District.

According to local media reports, Mr Kwaku Boateng, a cocoa farmer in the area told journalists that the government should do more to make the cocoa sector attractive to the youth in Ghana.

GIK/APA