Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has defended the government’s decision to adjust the cocoa producer price, insisting the move is neither unlawful nor unprecedented.
The price was reduced from GH¢51,660 per tonne (GH¢3,228.75 per bag) to GH¢41,392 per tonne, equivalent to GH¢2,587 per bag, following volatility on the international market. The producer price is currently pegged at US$5,040 per tonne.
The Minority has since called on the government to restore the previous rate, arguing that the reduction should be reversed as part of broader reforms in the cocoa sector.
However, addressing Parliament on Tuesday, February 17, Ayariga dismissed suggestions that reviewing the price downward breaches any law.
“Cocoa prices can be reviewed upwards and can also be reviewed downwards, and that when you review it downwards, it’s not illegal. In the same way, when you review it upwards, it’s also not illegal. So the charge that reviewing it is illegal is unfounded both in law and in practice,” he stated.
He also rejected claims that the current difficulties in the cocoa sector stem from a failure to sell all beans forward.
“Mr. Speaker, the charge that if the cocoa beans had been sold forward, we would not have faced this crisis is also unfounded because, indeed, a significant portion of the cocoa was sold forward.
“Every year, it is only a percentage of the cocoa that is part of forward sales. It’s not every bean that you do forward sales. Very often, you stop at 70% of the cocoa,” he explained.
