NPP GERMANY
PRESS RELEASE
17—02—2026
Ghana’s Poor Cocoa Farmers Bite The Bullet As NDC, John Mahama Unleash Yet Another ‘QNet Scam’—NPP GERMANY
NPP GERMANY branch can state on authority that the governing NDC rode to power in 2024 on a wave of unrealistic over-ambitious promises, not least among them was a firm commitment to raise cocoa producer prices and restore dignity to Ghana’s long-suffering farmers.
Today, that promise lies in tatters. The announcement slashing the cocoa producer price to GH¢41,392 per tonne and GH¢2,587 per bag for the remainder of the 2025/2026 crop season is not just an economic adjustment — it is a political betrayal.
During the 2024 campaign, President John Mahama himself, Finance Minister Ato Forson, among other leading figures of the National Democratic Congress assured cocoa farmers that a new era was coming.
They pledged to ensure farmers received a better share of global prices and repeatedly criticised the previous NPP administration for failing to “do right” by the cocoa-growing regions. That rhetoric has aged poorly.
Now in government, the same party is defending a reduction in producer prices, citing falling global cocoa prices and liquidity constraints. The Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, described the cut as “difficult but necessary.”
For cocoa farmers already struggling with rising input costs, and climate shocks, it feels neither necessary nor just — it feels like abandonment.
This is the raw deal: farmers were promised relief and reward, yet they have been handed a reduction.
At the height of campaign season, the NDC spoke passionately about protecting cocoa incomes.
They positioned themselves as champions of the farmer. But governing has revealed a different story — one of retreat rather than resolve a typical case likened to notorious scammers QNet.
Cocoa farmers form the backbone of Ghana’s rural economy. From the Western North to Ashanti and parts of the Eastern Region, entire communities depend on cocoa for survival.
When prices are cut, it is not just numbers on paper that change; it is school fees unpaid, hospital bills deferred, and farms neglected.
The government argues that global cocoa prices have declined sharply. But where was the contingency planning? Where were the stabilisation mechanisms they promised during the 2024 campaign?
Leadership is tested in downturns, not upswings. Farmers do not need excuses; they need protection.
It is particularly galling because the NDC’s 2024 manifesto explicitly promised to increase cocoa producer prices to favour farmers and ensure a more equitable distribution of export earnings. That promise was clear, repeated, and politically profitable.
Today’s reduction directly contradicts it. Instead of shielding farmers from volatility, the government appears to be passing the burden straight down the value chain to the weakest players.
Liquidity pressures within the sector are real, but why must the farmer always be the shock absorber?
The reduction sends a dangerous signal. At a time when neighbouring countries are competing aggressively for cocoa volumes, cutting prices risks encouraging smuggling across borders.
Farmers will inevitably compare returns and seek better deals where they can find them.
There is also a credibility crisis at stake. When political parties campaign on explicit financial commitments and reverse course within a year of taking office, public trust erodes.
Farmers remember what was said in 2024. They remember the rallies, the promises, the assurances of better days.
The Finance Minister’s framing of the move as alignment with “prevailing global trends” may be economically defensible on paper. But politically, it is tone-deaf.
Farmers do not vote for global trends; they vote for leadership that buffers them from hardship.
Input costs for cocoa production — fertiliser, pesticides, labour — have not fallen in tandem with global prices. In fact, many farmers report rising operational expenses.
Cutting producer prices without proportionate cost relief squeezes already thin margins.
The NDC once accused its predecessors of failing to prioritise cocoa communities.
Now it risks wearing the same criticism. Rural discontent is not easily contained, especially when livelihoods are directly impacted.
Moreover, the government’s justification of “mounting liquidity pressures” raises uncomfortable questions about sector management.
If financial strain has reached this level, what structural reforms have been undertaken since taking office? Where is the transparency?
Cocoa remains one of Ghana’s most critical foreign exchange earners. Yet the very people who cultivate it often live precariously.
Campaign promises to increase prices were not abstract political slogans; they were lifelines to struggling households.
By reducing the price, the government may argue it is cushioning farmers from a worse scenario. But from the farmer’s perspective, a cut is a cut. The promise was increase, not mitigation of decline.
This development also underscores a broader pattern in Ghanaian politics: campaign generosity followed by governing austerity.
The NDC’s 2024 pledge to favour farmers now rings hollow in the face of this decision.
The political cost could be significant. Cocoa-growing regions are politically strategic.
Disillusionment can reshape voting patterns, particularly when economic pain is tangible and immediate.
Ultimately, leadership is about honouring commitments even when circumstances shift.
If global prices fall, governments must innovate, restructure, or subsidise strategically — not default to reductions that undermine campaign assurances.
Cocoa farmers deserved consistency. They deserved the increase that was promised in 2024. Instead, they have been handed a reduction in 2026.
For many in the cocoa belt, this feels less like economic prudence and more like political shortchanging — delivered by those who once promised to offer paradise.
God Bless Our Homeland Ghana!!!
Long Live Ghana, long live the
Elephant Party!!!!
Kukruduuuu Eeeessshiii!!!
Signed:
Nana Osei Boateng
NPP GERMANY
Communications Director
