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COCOBOD: What is happening?
Reports from many cocoa growing regions in the country indicate that many cocoa farmers have not been paid by the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) for their purchased cocoa in the last two months even though the main cocoa season is tapering off.
Many cocoa farmers are reportedly in distress and anguish as a result of the non-payment of their already purchased cocoa beans. The health and economic implications to such farmers cannot be easily quantified.
And such farmers are compelled to seek for loans with very high interest payments, just to meet their basic needs.
Painfully, such a situation defeats government’s effort at investing more in the cocoa sector to motivate farmers to boost production to meet the projected target of one million metric tonnes annually.
In my view, it is only COCOBOD that can properly explain what is happening to our distressed cocoa farmers across the country.
Why am I saying so? As established, the functions of COCOBOD include production, research, extension, internal and external marketing and quality control of cocoa.
The functions are classified into two main sectors; pre-harvest and post-harvest, which are performed by specialised subsidiaries and divisions.
Now, COCOBOD, please listen. In the Buem District of the Oti Region, for example, it is reported that from just five LBCs, cocoa farmers are owed about GH¢ 12 million, representing about 17,000 bags of cocoa beans purchased by the LBCs but not paid for.
In the Western North Region, reports also indicate that only Cargill cocoa sourcing companies are adequately resourced to be paying for cocoa purchased from our farmers.
So, the question is: What is preventing COCOBOD from releasing funds to all the relevant LBCs to enable them to pay the farmers for cocoa beans purchased?
COCOBOD recently secured 1.3 billion-dollar loan facility to purchase cocoa beans for the 2020/21 crop season.
The loan facility is expected to assist COCOBOD to make upfront payment of cocoa beans it buys from cocoa farmers. If that is the case, then what is happening?
It must be noted most cocoa farmers depend on proceeds from the sale of their cocoa beans to fend for themselves and their families, besides hiring more farmhands in the preparation of new farmlands for subsequent farming seasons.
The cocoa proceeds also pay school fees of wards and children of cocoa farmers, apart from catering for their medical and domestic utility bills.
The 2017/18 Ghana Census of Agriculture(GCA) survey reveals that agricultural activities in Ghana still remain rural and rudimentary, with little innovation and moderniSation, and which is even made worse by an aging farmer population.
And so how do we improve the already dire situation with the concomitant delay in the payment of cocoa farmers who have legitimately sold their beans to the LBCs?
Experts say, to achieve any significant difference in terms of the results, the current modes of operation and characteristics of the persons and institutions engaged in agriculture in Ghana must be totally overhauled.
According to Professor Samuel Annim, Government Statiscian, there must be a deliberate strategy to attract the youth, especially those with tertiary-level education, among whom unemployment is high and who the census shows have very low participation in agriculture. But from what is confronting cocoa farmers now, how do we do it?
Readers, COCOBOD has projected cocoa production in Ghana to exceed 800,000 metric tonnes for the new crop season.
This is against the backdrop that in 2017 the government launched an ambitious plan to increase Ghana’s cocoa production to one million metric tonnes per annum.
Records indicate that currently, Ghana produces between 700,000 and 800,000 metric tonnes of cocoa annually.
Co-incidentally, however, cocoa farmers in Cote d’ Ivoire seem to be facing similar predicament.
Reportedly, cocoa farmers in the towns of Soubre, Daloa and Yamousoukro protested recently outside the offices of Le Conseil du Cafe Cacao (CCC), regulators of the Ivorian cocoa industry.
The reason? Reportedly, cocoa buyers are refusing to pay farmers and so beans are piling up in warehouses upcountry, thus, compelling some desperate cocoa farmers to sleep outside the offices of Cote d’ivoire’s cocoa regulator to demand action.
In Cote d’Ivoire’s situation, some analysts explain that it is due to the global chocolate standoff, whilst innocent farmers suffer for it.
The analysts claim that the large global chocolate makers and cocoa processors are deliberately trying to cut costs to derail the payment of the innovative Living Income Differential of $400 per a metric tonne of cocoa purchased from Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
Consequently, last year, the analysts contend that some of the global companies sourced large quantities of cocoa beans through the New York futures market, where beans were cheaper than the physical cocoa market.
According to the analysts, the large global cocoa companies were trying to dodge the payment of the West African premium, called the Living Income Differential.
The cooperation by Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to demand $400 per metric tonne of cocoa was intended to boost income of our poor cocoa farmers.
But some of the big-time cocoa traders, processors and chocolate makers claim that the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire innovative plan which was recently implemented, is an OPEC-style attempt to boost prices that lacked the supply and demand economics, which is key to the OPEC cartel’s success.
Remember? Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, together produce over 60 per cent of the world’s cocoa but enjoy less than two per cent of the world’s 110 billion-dollar chocolate industry.
The question to COCOBOD, however, is: In Ghana’s situation, what is the problem? And how do we resolve it once and for all, in the face of the mountainous difficulties confronting agriculture generally in Ghana?
G. Frank Asmah
Walk into any supermarket in Accra, Kumasi, or Tamale today, and you will see the modern Ghanaian diet packaged as ‘progress.’ You will see breakfast cereals with cartoon mascots, fruit drinks that are mostly sugar and colour, and snacks promising energy and happiness in bright fonts.
Even products loaded with salt and unhealthy fats often wear a health halo labeled as fortified or natural, while the real nutritional risk is hidden in tiny print on the back. This is not just a consumer inconvenience; it is a public health blind spot. Ghana is living through a silent surge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes, and stroke.
These conditions quietly drain household income and steal productive years. According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, NCDs are now responsible for nearly 45 per cent of all deaths in Ghana.
We cannot build a healthy nation on a food environment designed to confuse people at the point of purchase. Ghana must mandate simple front-of-pack warning labels (FOPWL) on high-sugar, high-salt, and high-fat packaged foods because consumers deserve truth at a glance, and industry must be pushed to reformulate.
Why Back-of-Pack Labels Are Not Enough
In theory, consumers can read nutrition panels. In reality, most Ghanaians shop under pressure, limited time, rising prices, and children tugging at their sleeves. The back label is a relic that requires a high cognitive load to interpret—essentially, the seller knows what is inside, but the buyer cannot easily tell.
This ‘information asymmetry’ is not fair. It is not consumer choice when the information needed to choose well is deliberately difficult to find.
Simple warning labels like the black octagons used in the Chilean Model act as a ‘stop-and-think’ nudge. They do not ban products but they simply tell the truth so people can decide.
Reshaping Our Food Environment
A generation ago, Ghana’s meals were mostly home-prepared, like kenkey and banku with soups and stews. Today, ultra-processed foods have become the norm, especially in urban areas. Children are growing up with sugary drinks and salty snacks as everyday items, not occasional treats.
If Ghana is serious about prevention, we must act where decisions are made—thus, the shelf. Warning labels protect parents from sugar traps and pressure the market to improve. When warning labels are mandatory, manufacturers start to compete to make healthier recipes to avoid the stigma of the label.
Addressing the Pushback
Industry will argue that labels create fear or that education alone is enough. However, health education is slow; labels work immediately. While the informal street food sector is a challenge, regulating pre-packaged goods is the practical starting point because the supply chain is traceable. We cannot wait until the whole system is perfect; we must start where action is feasible.
A 2026 Implementation Roadmap for Ghana
To move from talk to action, Ghana needs this 5-step plan:
- Issue mandatory regulation: The Ministry of Health, Food and Drug Authority (FDA), and Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) must define the label format and nutrient thresholds for all pre-packaged foods.
- Simple, bold symbols: Use plain language and clear symbols, such as “HIGH IN SUGAR,” designed for busy families, not experts.
- Transparent thresholds: Adopt technically defensible standards adapted to the Ghanaian diet.
- Transition and enforce: Provide a 12–18 month period for manufacturers to reformulate, followed by firm enforcement at ports and retail centers.
- National literacy campaign: The Ghana Health Service must pair labels with public messages explaining why high salt or sugar increases disease risk.
Conclusion: Truth Is Not a Luxury
Prevention is cheaper than treatment. A warning label costs little compared to the price of dialysis, stroke rehabilitation, or lifelong diabetes complications. A black octagon on a box of biscuits is more than a label; it is a shield for the health of all Ghanaians. It is time to put the truth where we can see it, right on the front.
By Abigail Amoah Sarfo
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Natives of the Kenkey Kingdom were mad with joy. They were still recovering from the hangover of the kingdom’s loss of the African Cup when their spirits were rekindled. Their great warrior, Zoom Zoom, stormed Melbourne and made sure that every Australian refused food. And that was after he had drawn contour lines on the face of their idol, Jeff Fenech.
Not only did the terrible warrior transform Old Boy Jeff’s face into a contour map useful for geography lessons, but he also accomplished the feat of retaining the much-envied super-kenkeyweight title against all odds. The warrior had not been eating hot kenkey for nothing.
The Fight Against Fenech
When Jeff Fenech bit the dust in the eighth round, I was tempted to consider if Adanko Deka could not have faced him in any twelve-rounder, title or non-title bout. Adanko has improved tremendously, and soon he would be facing Pernell Whitaker.
Sincerely, I was pessimistic about Azumah’s man, who the last time took him through twelve grueling rounds of rough boxing. I expressed my fears to my colleague Christian Abbew, alias Gbonyo, who surprisingly had total confidence that the Australian brawler would fall, predictably in Round Five.
Gbonyo gave reasons for his contention, all of which I counteracted using the age factor. Fact is, I didn’t know that contrary to the laws of nature, Azumah was all the time growing younger.
When Fenech fell briefly in round one, I asked my brother whether it was the same Fenech that fought Azumah in Las Vegas. Sure, it was the same Fenech, all out to beat Azumah before his countrymen.
But the African Professor had no intention of making the Australian a hero. As he spun round the desperate Aussie, dancing and stinging out his jabs, it was not too long before I realized that the end was near.
The Eighth Round Showdown
Two minutes into the eighth round, the African ring-master proved to the whole world that he was a true son of Bukom. He himself was cornered, but like the tough nut he is, he managed to break free before overwhelming the panting Australian with several blows that made him crash headlong.
Moments after, the referee, expressing fatherly sympathy, stopped the fight to prevent an obituary. After the ordeal, Fenech’s fairly handsome face was full of newly constructed hills, valleys, ox-bow lakes—whatever. I noticed that his nose was very tired and had a miniature volcano sitting restlessly on it. Obviously, Jeff’s wife will have to nurse that nose back to its normal shape—but I’d advise her not to use iodine, otherwise her dear husband will wail like a banshee.
Reflections on Boxing
Because Mohammed Ali was the kind of boxer kids liked, many school-going kids often entertained the wish of becoming like him. I remember one day when I told my father I wanted to become a boxer, and he advised me to first complete my education to the highest level. Then, if I decided to become a boxer and was knocked out a couple of times, I’d fall back on my degrees and make a living.
Boxing used to be interesting when bouts were fought more with the mouth and tongue than with gloves. You had to brag well, psychologically belittling your opponent before beating him up physically. Mohammed Ali became a very successful pugilist because he also managed to become a poet. He often blew his horn across America, calling himself the “pretty boxer” and opponents like Joe Frazier “the gorilla.”
Ali made a living fighting hard fists like Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Jerry Quarry, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, and Trevor Berbick. Twice he came back from retirement to fight just for money. It was Larry Holmes who finally pensioned him, and since then the great Ali has never been himself.
The Path Ahead for Azumah
When Azumah nailed Jeff Fenech on the cross and barked almost immediately that he was after the head of Pernell Whitaker, I was happy but concerned. I would have been happier if he had announced his resignation there and then—he would have been more of a hero. Beating Fenech in Australia is more newsworthy than facing Whitaker in the States.
With Whitaker, it might be a little difficult. The “Sweet Pea” is agile, has a crooked body like a snake with diarrhea, and stands awkwardly as a southpaw. He is known for having the fastest pair of fists and the rare ability to dodge punches no matter how close they may be.
Much as I do not doubt that Azumah can take his title, I also don’t want him to retire beaten. I want him to retire as a hero and live a fuller, healthy life.
As Azumah himself said after dishing Fenech, he is now a professor and has something to show for it. Like a true professor, I think it is time he resigned and took up training young talents who could draw inspiration from him and become like him in the future.
Closing Thoughts
I must say that although ageing boxers like Larry Holmes and George Foreman are making a name for themselves, boxing is not like the Civil Service, where you can even change your age and retire at 74. Zoom Zoom has delighted the hearts of the natives, and Sikaman will forever hold him in high esteem—but only when he retires as a hero.
This article was first published on Saturday, March 7, 1992.
