Cocoa farmers from the Kuapa Kokoo Association, which produces up to 1 per cent of the world’s cocoa, have appealed to the government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), to consider a price increase of cocoa to provide less incentive for the product to be smuggled to neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire.
At their annual general meeting and 20th anniversary celebration in Kumasi, Managing Director of Kuapa Kokoo Mr Emmanuel Kwabena Arthur said the producer price of the commodity was higher in Cote d’Ivoire so some sellers were smuggling large amounts of cocoa across the border.
In May, Reuters News Agency reported that up to 100,000 tonnes of cocoa had been smuggled from Ghana into Cote d’Ivoire since October last year due to the fall of the cedi. The price of cocoa is about 25 per cent higher in Cote d’Ivoire than it is in Ghana.
