Is There Justice for Ghana’s Cocoa Farmers?

In the fall of 2022, Ghana’s Agriculture minister, Owusu Afriyie Akoto (“Akoto”), had a major decision to make. As chairman of the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC), he was responsible for setting the government-regulated price paid to farmers for bags of cocoa (64 kilogram (kg) per bag). The current price provided farmers with just 6% of the value of the ultimate chocolate product. Cocoa growers complained that the current price was too low, especially given the rapid increase in the cost of inputs and they demanded 1,500 cedi (Ghana’s currency) per bag. At the same time, Akoto had to face the global market for cocoa which generally viewed cocoa as a commodity. Although demand for cocoa was growing at a rate of 4% annually, large corporate buyers (firms such as Nestle, Lindt, Hershey, and Mars) were attempting to regain a larger portion of the value of the product. Akoto had to balance the importance of cocoa to the Ghanaian economy, where the crop constituted 15% of the nation’s GDP with the needs of poor farmers, 90% of whom did not earn a living income from their cocoa farming. Beyond the immediate question of price, Akoto had other long-term concerns with cocoa, including environmental impact, supply chain innovation, and child labor.