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‘Give Cocobod a Bailout, Not a Haircut’ – Amin Adam Blasts Gov‘t Over Producer Price Cut

Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has criticized the Mahama administration, accusing it of “short-changing” cocoa farmers and recklessly mismanaging the sector into an unprecedented crisis.

Date Created : 2/13/2026 : Story Author : Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com

Speaking in the wake of the government’s decision to slash the cocoa producer price by 28.6% to GH¢41,392 per tonne, the Karaga MP said the NDC government had no excuse for failing to implement the comprehensive turnaround strategy handed to them by the previous administration – a strategy he revealed was developed in consultation with the International Monetary Fund.

“We are very surprised that the minister rather used the opportunity to short change cocoa farmers,” Amin Adam said. “Before we left government, we introduced a turnaround strategy for Cocobod, and we worked on this with the IMF. This strategy was intended to comprehensively restructure Cocobod.”

’IMF Has Gone to Sleep’

The former minister expressed shock that the Fund had not called out the government’s inaction, given that the strategy was a requirement under Ghana’s IMF programme.

“I am really surprised that the IMF has gone to sleep on this,” he said. “If they implemented the strategy we handed over to them, Cocobod would not be in this mess.”

According to Amin Adam, the previous administration’s blueprint included several key measures the current government is now scrambling to announce as new policy – one year too late.

He noted that Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s directive to transfer GH¢4.35 billion in cocoa road liabilities to the Ministry of Roads was explicitly contained in the handed-over strategy. Also outstanding, he said, were plans to legislate a transparent cocoa pricing policy, remove deductions that depress producer prices, and move Cocobod away from non-core businesses.

“They have done none of that,” he charged. “As far as we are concerned, this government did not need to announce any new strategy. They simply needed to implement the one we gave them.”

’Bailout, Not a Haircut’

With Cocobod facing acute liquidity challenges and global cocoa prices having halved from US$7,200 to around US$4,100 per tonne, Amin Adam insisted the appropriate response was a state bailout – not a reduction in what farmers take home .

“Given the scale of the crisis in a sector that is one of the most important pillars of our economy, one expected government to give Cocobod a bailout, as we did during the NPP times, rather than reducing the producer price,” he said.

He pointed to the government’s own messaging of a “strong and resilient economy” as grounds for such intervention. “An economy that is better managed cannot pay cocoa farmers. An economy that is better managed reduces the producer price of cocoa. Ghanaians can now see who is better managing the economy,” he added.

Cedi Overvaluation ‘Killing Exports’

Amin Adam delivered a sharp economics tutorial on what he termed the “reckless overvaluation” of the Ghana cedi – a policy he said was directly responsible for pricing Ghanaian cocoa out of international markets.

Cocobod CEO Randy Abbey has publicly confirmed that Ghana’s cocoa is now considered more expensive globally, with buyers turning away from the country’s beans . Amin Adam argued this was the inevitable consequence of aggressive forex intervention.

“We warned them several times that the dollars they are pumping into the economy – last year alone, they intervened to the tune of US$10bn – that reckless overvaluation of our currency will affect our exports,” he said.

Drawing on purchasing power parity principles, he noted that with inflation at 3.8%, the cedi should depreciate by at least that margin to protect export competitiveness. Instead, authorities have celebrated currency appreciation.

“When you overvalue your currency, it adversely affects the export competitiveness of your country. Is it surprising that the competitiveness of cocoa on the global market is reducing?” he asked.

’Imported Maize Now Cheaper Than Local’

The former minister warned that the knock-on effects extend beyond cocoa, citing firsthand observations from his Karaga constituency.

“I’m just coming from my constituency. They have piles and piles of bags of maize that they are not able to sell, because people will go to buy the imported maize at the expense of locally produced maize,” he revealed.

He accused the government of undermining domestic production and jobs at a time when it is touting a 24-hour economy policy. “This government is recklessly undermining the efforts of our farmers, and it won’t be long before Ghanaians see the reality.”

Background

The government on Thursday announced a revised producer price of GH¢2,587 per bag, down from GH¢3,625, alongside a forensic audit of Cocobod covering the past eight years and a US$500 million World Bank facility to absorb cocoa road financing .

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has attributed the crisis to inherited pricing missteps, including an October 2024 producer price hike to GH¢58,000 per tonne that was intended to combat smuggling but left Ghanaian beans uncompetitive when global prices collapsed .

The CDM has also condemned the price cut as a “monumental betrayal” of campaign promises, recalling pledges by President Mahama to raise the farmgate price to at least GH¢6,000 per bag .

Amin Adam concluded: “The cocoa sector has exposed this government. What a responsible government must do is achieve policy equilibrium so that all sectors are protected. They have failed.”

ECONOMICS

‘Give Cocobod a Bailout, Not a Haircut’ – Amin Adam Blasts Gov‘t Over Producer Price Cut

Date Created : 2/13/2026 : Story Author : Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com

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