Former Member of Parliament for Sefwi-Wiawso, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, says cocoa smuggling will not automatically increase in Ghana unless there is a significant price gap between Ghana and neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Dr Afriyie dismissed suggestions that Ghana’s cocoa sector is on the verge of widespread smuggling, explaining that Côte d’Ivoire is also dealing with political and market pressures affecting cocoa pricing.
“I’m not too sure this will be a conduit for smuggling because Côte d’Ivoire is also grappling with the politicisation of cocoa prices. President Ouattara could not fulfil his promise to increase prices, and their farmers are used to low prices when the world market falls,” he said.
Dr Afriyie explained that Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa pricing system, regulated by the Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC), differs significantly from Ghana’s rigid pricing structure under COCOBOD.
“With the CCC, the crop price is a suggested price. It is criminal to go below it, but you can go above it. But in Ghana, ours is rigid. We should set prices such that you cannot go below them, but you can pay above,” he noted.
He added that although Ivorian farmers sometimes receive discounted prices when they deliver cocoa, the situation rarely generates public agitation because of their long-standing adjustment culture.
“In Côte d’Ivoire, there are discounted prices when farmers send the cocoa, but they are not talking. That culture exists,” he explained.
Dr Afriyie stressed that cocoa smuggling is driven purely by price disparities, not speculation or rumours.
“With what I call the Afriyie equation, when there is less than 300 cedis discrepancy in cocoa prices, that is when smuggling sets in,” he said. “It all depends on the equilibrium between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.”
He also recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo established a joint cocoa institution between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to stabilise prices and coordinate the market.
“That office is still in Accra. It is important for them to meet because cocoa is a commodity that Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire control about 60 per cent of the world market,” Dr Afriyie said. “If you want to stabilise prices, you must sit and know the way forward.”
Beyond local pricing issues, Dr Afriyie accused powerful multinational companies of manipulating cocoa prices under the guise of inflation and weak global demand.
“When it comes to cocoa prices, there are about seven companies that have formed a cartel. They are not market forces,” he alleged. “There are publications saying inflation and low demand abroad are the reasons, but that is not true. The private companies are behind it. It is posturing.”
He urged the government to take a stronger political stance in negotiations with global cocoa buyers.
“The government must be political and deal with it,” Dr Afriyie said. “If we don’t, farmers will continue to suffer from decisions they did not create.”
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