Cocoa beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, are first fermented after being harvested and then left to dry in the sun
Cocoa farmers have urged the Government to delay assent to the Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, pending wider consultations.
The Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association Limited said some provisions of the legislation could affect farmers seeking alternative uses for cocoa farms that had become economically unproductive.
Mr Moses Djan Asiedu, Administrator of the Association, told the Ghana News Agency that while the organisation supported measures to protect cocoa farms and sustain the cocoa sector, some provisions of the Bill required further review and public education.
”We have told COCOBOD that they should ask the President to hold on with the assent because there are issues of concern. The farmers do not understand the law fully, and there should be more engagement,” he said.
The Association’s concerns centre on provisions that grant protected status to cocoa farms and restrict their conversion to other uses without approval from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
Mr Asiedu said inadequate understanding of the legislation among farmers could heighten uncertainty, particularly in communities where cocoa production had become difficult because of declining yields and other farm-level challenges.
He said information reaching farmers through social media and radio discussions had been fragmented, contributing to concerns about the criminal implications of removing cocoa trees.
”What they have heard is that if you cut down cocoa, you will be arrested. That is how it has been presented, and it has created anger among farmers,” he stated.
Mr Asiedu said the Association had undertaken engagements with farmers in Enchi, Dadieso, Asawinso and Sefwi in the Western North Region, where farmers raised concerns about how the legislation could affect their livelihoods and land-use decisions.
He some farmers were particularly concerned about the treatment of farms that had ceased to be commercially productive and whether replacing cocoa with other crops in such circumstances could expose them to prosecution.
”Nobody wakes up and cuts down cocoa trees just like that. Farmers invest their lifetime in cocoa. But when a farm is no longer yielding and a farmer decides to cultivate another crop to sustain the family, why should that become a criminal offence?” Mr Asiedu questioned.
The Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament on July 30, is awaiting presidential assent.
The legislation grants protected status to all cocoa farms and prohibits their conversion to other uses without approval from COCOBOD.
It also prohibits the destruction of cocoa trees except under approved rehabilitation programmes.
The Bill further prohibits mining, sand winning and other extractive or environmentally harmful activities on protected cocoa farms or within 500 metres of such farms.
Persons engaged in illegal extractive activities affecting protected cocoa farms or nearby water bodies could face prison terms of between 10 and 20 years, fines for each affected cocoa tree, or both.
The courts may also order the restoration of damaged farms or compensation for affected owners.
The proposed legislation comes against the backdrop of concerns over the loss of cocoa-growing areas to illegal mining and other competing land uses, with implications for the sustainability of cocoa production and farmer livelihoods.
The Government has said the Bill is intended to curb the increasing loss of cocoa farms to illegal mining and other competing land uses and safeguard the long-term sustainability of Ghana’s cocoa sector.
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