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Vol 67 No 7

Published 3rd April 2026


Ghana

Mahama gets caught in the cocoa trap

A mid-season farmgate price cut of nearly 30% has sent farmers into the streets, exposed Cocobod's $3 billion debt mountain and is damaging the President politically

When President John Dramani Mahama's National Democratic Congress swept back to power in December 2024 on a wave of popular goodwill, its pledge to nearly double the cocoa farmgate price – from ?3,100 to as much as ?7,000 per bag – was among the most popular pledges of the campaign. But 16 months later Mahama’s government is being pilloried for broken promises to the key cocoa-growing areas as the financing crisis in the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) is turning into a wider fight over state control of the sector.

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