By Emmanuel Bruce
ACCRA, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Ghanaian cocoa farmers are pushing back against a newly passed law that restricts how they can use their own land, urging President John Dramani Mahama to withhold his assent until they have been properly consulted.
The Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, was approved by Ghana’s parliament in late July. It gives cocoa farms “protected” status and bars anyone, including farmers, from converting cocoa farms for other uses without approval from market regulator COCOBOD, except for board-sanctioned rehabilitation. Violators face fines and possible prison terms of up to 20 years.
The bill is aimed at curbing the conversion of cocoa land for mining and other crops, a trend that is contributing to Ghana’s declining cocoa output, with portions of cocoa farms nationwide cleared for rubber plantations and mining activities.
Ghana and neighbouring Ivory Coast produce half of the world’s cocoa.
The Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association Limited, an umbrella body for cocoa farmer cooperatives, said it supports measures to protect farms but wants several provisions reviewed and better explained to growers before the bill becomes law.
Its administrator, Moses Djan Asiedu, said farmers were especially concerned about land that had become commercially unproductive, and whether replacing cocoa with other crops in such places could expose them to prosecution.
“We agree the tree must be protected because that is the source of our livelihood, but we have critical situations where a farmer may have to cut down a diseased farm and plant another crop that will bring him or her income,” Asiedu said.
The farmers’ concerns echo objections raised by minority lawmakers.
COCOBOD has rejected the criticism. Jerome Sam, head of public relations, told local media the minority’s objections were politically motivated and that the bill was drafted to help farmers.
Mahama has not yet signed the bill, nor has he given a timeline of when he might do so.
(Reporting by Emmanuel Bruce; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Elaine Hardcastle)
