Ghana’s Cocoa Farmers Still Struggle Despite Record Global Prices – 2025 Cocoa Barometer Warns

Ghana’s cocoa industry, one of the pillars of the national economy, is once again at the centre of global scrutiny following the release of the 2025 Cocoa Barometer, which paints a sobering picture of inequality and unfulfilled promises within the cocoa value chain.

The comprehensive report, prepared by an international coalition of civil society organisations, research bodies, and development partners, highlights that even with record global cocoa prices and relative macroeconomic stability, most cocoa farmers in Ghana remain locked in poverty and excluded from the real benefits of the sector’s growth.

According to the Barometer, structural imbalances continue to define the global cocoa trade. While Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together supply over 60% of the world’s cocoa beans, they retain less than 6% of the total industry value, with multinational chocolate corporations capturing the lion’s share of profits.

Persistent Poverty Amid Rising Prices

The 2025 Barometer reveals that the combination of rising production costs, limited bargaining power, and unequal pricing mechanisms has left cocoa farmers struggling to make ends meet.

“Cocoa producers continue to shoulder the highest risks yet capture the least returns,” the report states. Despite the Living Income Differential (LID) introduced in 2019 to guarantee a fairer income for producers, many farmers still live below the internationally recognised living income line.

The Barometer argues that the LID, though a positive step, is insufficient without transparency in the cocoa trading system, stronger farmer representation, and mechanisms that hold multinational buyers accountable.

“A fair price must move from rhetoric to reality,” the report insists, urging chocolate manufacturers to support structural pricing reforms that ensure producers share equitably in industry gains.

Ghana’s Producer Price Increase Offers Limited Relief

Amid mounting farmer discontent, the Government of Ghana on October 2, 2025, announced an increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2025/2026 season. The new price has been raised from GHS 3,228.75 to GHS 3,625 per bag, representing a 12.27% increase, or GHS 58,000 per metric tonne, up from GHS 51,660.

While the adjustment has been welcomed by farmer associations, analysts caution that the increase still falls short of offsetting inflationary pressures and the rising cost of farm inputs such as fertilizer, labour, and pesticides.

Agricultural economist Dr. Kwame Amankwah notes that “even with the new pricing, many smallholder farmers will not achieve a sustainable living income unless productivity levels increase and farm-gate pricing mechanisms are reformed to eliminate exploitative middlemen.”

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Sustainability and Environmental Threats

The Barometer also dedicates significant attention to environmental degradation in Ghana’s cocoa-growing regions. Illegal mining activities, known locally as galamsey, are identified as a major threat to both cocoa production and the country’s environmental health.

Large tracts of cocoa farms, especially in the Western North, Ashanti, and Eastern regions, have been destroyed or contaminated by mercury and other toxic substances used in artisanal mining.

The report warns that unchecked environmental degradation could permanently reduce Ghana’s cocoa yield potential and tarnish its reputation as a sustainable cocoa source, potentially jeopardizing access to premium international markets that now prioritise environmental and ethical sourcing.

It recommends the government strengthen land governance systems, incentivise reforestation and sustainable farming, and collaborate more closely with development agencies and local communities to restore degraded cocoa landscapes.

Value Addition and Local Processing

Another major theme in the 2025 Barometer is the urgent need for value addition within cocoa-producing countries. Currently, Ghana exports the majority of its cocoa in raw bean form, leaving most of the downstream value creation—such as chocolate production, branding, and marketing—to foreign corporations.

“Value addition within producing countries must be treated as an economic imperative, not an optional goal,” the report emphasizes. It calls for increased domestic processing capacity, public-private partnerships, and fiscal incentives to support local chocolate manufacturing, which would help Ghana retain more value within its economy.

Local industry players such as Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) and emerging artisanal chocolate brands have made some progress, but challenges persist—chief among them limited access to financing, high utility costs, and unstable supply chains.

Call for Policy and Institutional Reforms

The 2025 Cocoa Barometer concludes with a strong call for policy coherence and institutional reform across Ghana’s cocoa sector. It urges the government to align its economic recovery strategies with farmer-centred policies that address both the social and environmental dimensions of cocoa production.

Key recommendations include:

• Establishing a transparent and participatory pricing mechanism that allows farmers to influence price-setting decisions.

• Expanding social protection programs for smallholder farmers, especially women and youth.

• Strengthening traceability systems to ensure ethical and deforestation-free cocoa.

• Investing in climate-resilient farming technologies and soil restoration projects.

A Path Forward

As global demand for ethically sourced cocoa continues to grow, Ghana’s ability to balance economic growth, social equity, and environmental stewardship will determine the future of its cocoa industry.

The 2025 Cocoa Barometer serves as both a warning and a roadmap — reminding stakeholders that the sustainability of Ghana’s most prized export depends on ensuring that the hands that grow the cocoa also share in its prosperity.