Cocoa farmers in the Agona West Municipality of the Central Region have expressed their dissatisfaction with the cocoa season price for 2023–2024, as recently announced by the government. They argue that the price for a bag of cocoa for the season should have been GH¢2000 Ghana Cedis, as opposed to the GH¢1308 announced by President Akufo-Addo.

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Initially, the farmers commended the government for the increase and acknowledged its positive aspect. However, they firmly believed that the increment could have been more substantial.President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo declared a 63.6% upward adjustment of the farm gate price of cocoa beans, raising it from GH₵800 to GH₵1,308 per bag for the new cocoa season.

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He emphasized that this increment represents the highest in West Africa over the past 15 years.The president made this significant announcement at Tepa in the Ashanti Region during the launch of the 2023–2024 cocoa season. The farmers in the Agona West Municipality reiterated their appreciation for the government's efforts in increasing the cocoa price.

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“However, we would have been happy if he announced that the new price has moved to GHC 2,000. The price announced by the president could have been better than what was announced. We first appreciate the increment, but it is not enough. Like Oliver Twist, we are demanding more,” one of the farmers said.Another said, “We will first appreciate the government for the new price.

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But we would have preferred that the increase get to GHC 2,000”.“The new price announced is woefully inadequate. Some prefer to smuggle their cocoa to neighbouring countries just because the price compared to even the previous one is not up to their level. So we would have preferred GHC 2,000,” a different farmer added.

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