The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on President John Dramani Mahama to withhold assent to the Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, and return it to Parliament for broader consultation.
The party says it supports reforms in the cocoa
sector but objects to the process through which the Bill was passed, as well as some provisions it believes could negatively affect cocoa farmers.
The Bill was laid before Parliament on July 28 and passed in the same week under a Certificate of Urgency. The NPP argues that key stakeholders, including cocoa farmer associations, were not adequately consulted before the legislation was passed.
Speaking at a press conference, Offinso South MP and Co-Chairperson of the NPP Policy Committee on Agriculture, Dr. Isaac Yaw Opoku, said the party’s concerns were not about reforming the sector but about the manner in which the new law was passed.
“We do not oppose reform. PNDCL 81 is overdue for replacement. We support traceability, value addition, and a guaranteed floor for the farmer’s share.”
He added, “Our objection is the manner of travel, and provisions that will hurt the very farmers they claim to protect.”
Dr. Yaw Opoku raised particular concerns about Clause 57, which sets the producer price at not less than 70 percent of the Gross Free On Board (FOB) price realised by COCOBOD.
While welcoming the statutory floor, he questioned how the realised Gross FOB would be calculated and verified, arguing that farmers should not be left dependent on figures that only COCOBOD can determine.
“To tie the farmer’s entitlement to a denominator only one party can calculate is not a guarantee. It is a promise with the arithmetic withheld.”
The NPP is therefore demanding that the realised Gross FOB and the underlying calculations be published and independently audited each cocoa season.
The party is also calling for an amendment to Clause 81, which restricts the destruction, uprooting, damaging or felling of cocoa trees except for rehabilitation approved by COCOBOD.
Dr. Yaw Opoku said although the party supports measures to prevent cocoa farms from being converted into illegal mining sites, the provision could affect legitimate farming activities, including the removal of diseased or overcrowded trees.
The NPP wants Clause 81 amended to exempt tree removals carried out in accordance with COCOBOD’s published agronomic guidelines.
Dr. Yaw Opoku further assured cocoa farmers that a future NPP administration under its flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, would not reduce the producer price in the middle of a season after it has been announced.
The party cited the reduction in the producer price during the 2025/26 season, when the price was reduced from GH¢51,660 per tonne to GH¢41,392 per tonne in February 2026.
“And the next NPP administration under Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will not cut a producer price mid season once announced.”
He added, “A price announced to the Ghanaian farmer will be a price honoured to the Ghanaian farmer.”
The NPP is consequently urging President Mahama to withhold assent to the Bill and return it to Parliament for further consultation.
The party is also asking Parliament to independently audit the realised Gross FOB each season, retain external cocoa marketing under the Cocoa Marketing Company, defer aspects of farmer registration until the process is substantially complete, and clarify the pricing basis for cocoa beans sold to local processors.
The party maintains that broader stakeholder consultation is necessary to ensure the legislation protects rather than burdens cocoa farmers.
