Business
These are the 17 Reforms in Ghana’s Cocoa Sector Announced by the Minister Yesterday
Yesterday, Thursday, February 12, 2026, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson stood before the nation and did something unprecedented: he named the rot, itemized the failures, and then—piece by piece—laid out a rescue plan for Ghana’s battered cocoa sector.
With thousands of farmers unpaid since November 2025, 50,000 metric tonnes of cocoa stranded at port, and COCOBOD buried under GH¢5.8 billion in legacy debt, the emergency Cabinet meeting on February 11 that preceded his press conference wasn’t a policy retreat. It was a rescue mission.
Here are the 17 reforms the Minister announced—and what they actually mean for the farmer, the sector, and the future of Ghanaian cocoa.
1. Immediate Payment to All Affected Cocoa Farmers
“Cabinet has accordingly directed the Ghana Cocoa Board to commence immediate payment of all affected cocoa farmers.”
No committees. No feasibility studies. No “further consultations.” The directive is active. COCOBOD has been ordered to pay—now. Farmers who haven’t seen a cedi since November 2025 are first in line.
2. New COCOBOD Bill to Automate Producer Price Adjustments
The current system allows a CEO to decide what a farmer earns. That ends.
The incoming Cocoa Board Bill will legislate automatic price adjustments tied to three variables: world market price, exchange rate, and other key indicators. No more discretion. No more negotiation. The formula becomes law.
3. 70% Minimum FOB Guarantee—Locked in Legislation
This is the headline. Cabinet has approved a minimum 70% of gross FOB price to be paid to the cocoa farmer.
Not a promise. Not a target. A floor, written into law. When global prices rise, the farmer’s income rises with it—automatically, immediately, and without political intervention.
4. 90% Interim Relief for the Remainder of 2025/2026
Because reforms take time but farmers eat daily, the Producer Price Review Committee met yesterday afternoon ahead of the presser and approved an emergency 90% of achieved gross FOB for the rest of this crop season.
At $4,200 per ton and the prevailing exchange rate, that translates to GH¢41,392 per ton and GH¢2,587 per bag—effective immediately.
5. A New Financing Model: Cocoa Bonds, Not Syndicated Loans
The 32-year-old syndicated loan model is dead. In its place: domestic cocoa bonds.
COCOBOD will issue bonds to raise a revolving fund for cocoa purchases, repayable within each crop year. The goal is independence from buyer financing and the predatory contract terms that came with it.
6. Revival of PBC (Produce Buying Company) as Market Leader
State-owned PBC has been “completely thrown out of business” under the old model. Cabinet has ordered its immediate revival to become the leading Licensed Buying Company in Ghana.
This is not symbolism. This is the state re-entering the buying space to stabilize competition and protect farmers.
7. 50% Minimum Domestic Processing Mandate
Beginning in the 2026/2027 crop season, a minimum of 50% of all cocoa beans must be processed locally.
This will be encoded in the new COCOBOD Bill. No more exporting raw beans while Ghanaian factories sit idle.
8. Immediate Allocation of Remainder Beans to Domestic Processors
For the current crop year, Cabinet has directed that all remaining beans be allocated to local processing companies.
The Minister confirmed that private processors met with him and the Trade Minister yesterday morning and “indicated they have the capacity and willingness to process more than 50% of Ghana’s cocoa beans going forward.”
9. Revival of CPC (Cocoa Processing Company) as Lead Processor
CPC will be revamped as a matter of priority to become Ghana’s flagship cocoa processor.
The Minister did not put a price tag on the revamp, stating operational details will be announced by CPC’s board and management. But the directive is clear: CPC will no longer be an afterthought.
10. GH¢5.8 Billion Legacy Debt Conversion to Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana
COCOBOD currently owes:
- GH¢3.7 billion to the Ministry of Finance
- GH¢1.38 billion to the Bank of Ghana
Cabinet has directed that this GH¢5.8 billion be converted onto the books of MoF and BoG to restore COCOBOD’s positive equity and strengthen its balance sheet for the new financing model.
11. GH¢4.35 Billion Road Debt Transferred to Ministries
Between 2014 and 2024, COCOBOD awarded GH¢26.5 billion in road contracts—GH¢21.5 billion between 2018 and 2021 alone.
After a rationalization exercise supervised by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Roads, the exposure has been reduced from GH¢21.7 billion to GH¢4.35 billion. Cabinet has directed that this remaining liability be transferred to the Ministry of Roads and Ministry of Finance for payment.
12. COCOBOD Banned from Quasi-Fiscal Expenditures—With Punishments
This is a line-item revolution.
The new Cocoa Board Bill will prohibit COCOBOD from road construction and other non-core expenditures entirely. And here’s the kicker: it will come with punishment if they ever do so.
No more using cocoa money to build roads. No more “special requests.” The board’s job is cocoa. Nothing else.
13. $500 Million World Bank Facility for Cocoa Roads
Announced in the 2026 budget, this facility will take over the construction of cocoa roads entirely.
Roads will still be built. Farmers will still access their farms. But COCOBOD will no longer finance them, and the Ministry of Roads will be accountable for delivery.
14. Concurrent Forensic Audit and Criminal Investigation
Cabinet has directed the Attorney General to commission concurrent forensic audit and criminal investigation into COCOBOD’s activities over the last 8 years.
Not an internal review. Not a “special audit” filed away in a drawer. A criminal investigation, running parallel to financial forensics, with the full weight of the Office of the Attorney General.
15. Immediate Operational Reforms and Cost-Cutting
“Wasteful and uncontrolled expenditure practices are to be curbed immediately.”
Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Finance to initiate immediate reforms at COCOBOD to streamline operations and cut costs. No specific figures were attached, but the directive is unambiguous: the era of unchecked spending ends now.
16. Jute Sacks Mismanagement Referred for Investigation
Responding to a journalist’s question about 18 containers of cocoa jute sacks stranded at port and a fresh $48 million letter of credit opened for unclaimed sacks, the Minister confirmed the matter is part of the Attorney General’s investigation.
“For five years in a row, all the previous administration did was buy jute sacks, not clear them, and order a new set,” Forson said. “It was more or less a procurement agenda, not buying to bag cocoa.”
17. New Producer Price Announced: GH¢41,392/Ton
Effective Thursday, February 12, 2026, the producer price for the remainder of the 2025/2026 crop season is:
- GH¢41,392 per metric ton
- GH¢2,587 per bag of 64kg
This represents 90% of the achieved gross FOB of $4,200 per ton—a deliberate cushion against the global price collapse while maintaining sector sustainability.
“Never Again”: A New Era?
At least four times during the press conference, the Minister returned to the same phrase: “Never again.”
Never again will a CEO have the power to cheat the farmer. Never again will a board chair determine who gets paid and who doesn’t. Never again will cocoa money build roads while farmers cannot afford school fees.
“Unfortunately, in the past, when the world market price moved up, the cocoa farmer did not benefit,” Forson said. “When the exchange rate depreciated, the cocoa farmer did not benefit. Never again should this practice be allowed to persist.”
The reforms announced yesterday are not merely administrative. They are structural. They are legislative. And if implemented, they will fundamentally rewire who cocoa works for in Ghana.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), providing immediate duty-free access and retroactive tax refunds to qualifying exporters in 32 sub-Saharan African countries — but only through December 31, 2026.
The short-term reauthorization, enacted in early February 2026, ends the uncertainty that followed the original September 30, 2025, expiration.
African businesses that paid extra duties since October 2025 can now claim full refunds, delivering quick cash-flow relief to garment makers, horticulture exporters, and other AGOA beneficiaries.
However, the 11-month window — far shorter than previous multi-year renewals — has raised concerns across the continent.
The U.S. has explicitly tied the brief extension to expectations of “reciprocal market access,” signaling that future eligibility could hinge on African governments opening their markets more fully to American goods and services.
Key implications for Ghana and other AGOA-eligible nations include:
- Immediate duty-free treatment for over 1,800 product lines (textiles, apparel, agricultural goods, handicrafts, etc.) retroactive to October 2025
- A clear 2026 deadline for negotiations on a longer-term or replacement agreement
- Heightened U.S. scrutiny of trade barriers, intellectual property protections, and investment rules
- Continued exclusion of certain countries (e.g., those failing eligibility criteria such as human rights or rule-of-law benchmarks)
Trade analysts describe the move as a deliberate shift toward conditional, shorter-duration trade preferences — a departure from the bipartisan, decade-long renewals that characterized AGOA since its launch in 2000. The one-year horizon gives Washington leverage to push for concessions while giving African exporters a temporary lifeline.
For Ghana — one of AGOA’s most consistent users — the extension secures continued duty-free access for apparel, shea butter products, cashews, and other exports to the U.S. market. Yet exporters and policymakers now face a compressed timeline to prepare for potentially tougher talks in 2026.
The African Union, ECOWAS, and individual governments have welcomed the refund mechanism but expressed concern over the uncertainty.
Many are already calling for a permanent, rules-based successor framework that better aligns with AfCFTA goals and Africa’s industrialisation ambitions.
As the clock ticks toward the end of 2026, the coming months will test whether AGOA’s legacy can evolve into a more balanced, reciprocal partnership — or whether both sides will need to chart an entirely new course for U.S.-Africa trade relations.
Business
Silent Turf War Intensifies: U.S. Extends AGOA, China Responds with Zero-Tariff Access to 53 African Nations
In a quiet but unmistakable escalation of economic influence across Africa, China has agreed to provide zero-tariff access to its massive market for 53 African countries.
The move comes just weeks after the United States extended the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for another decade.
The announcement, reported by Business Insider Africa on February 13, 2026, follows years of diplomatic and commercial positioning by both superpowers. Beijing’s move effectively removes tariffs on a broad range of African exports — including agricultural products, minerals, textiles, and light manufactures — giving African producers significantly improved access to the world’s second-largest consumer market.
The decision comes after sustained lobbying by African governments and the African Union, as well as China’s own strategic interest in securing long-term raw material supplies, diversifying trade partners away from Western markets, and deepening political goodwill across the continent.
While no official Chinese government statement has yet detailed the exact product coverage or implementation timeline, analysts interpret the agreement as a direct counterweight to AGOA’s renewal (signed into law by President Biden in late 2025 and extended through 2035).
AGOA provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for over 1,800 products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries, but is conditional on meeting governance, human rights, and market-access criteria — conditions that have led to periodic exclusions (most recently Eswatini in 2024).
China’s zero-tariff offer appears unconditional and broader in scope, covering nearly the entire continent (excluding only a handful of nations without diplomatic relations with Beijing). The timing is widely seen in diplomatic circles as a deliberate signal: Beijing is positioning itself as the more reliable, less conditional partner for African trade and development finance.
For Ghana and other resource-rich West African nations, the dual developments create both opportunity and strategic complexity. Zero-tariff access to China could accelerate exports of cocoa, shea butter, cashew nuts, bauxite, manganese, and emerging value-added products. At the same time, AGOA remains vital for apparel, automotive components, and light manufactures destined for the U.S. market.
Trade experts caution that realizing the full benefits will require African governments to address supply-side constraints: logistics bottlenecks, quality certification, meeting sanitary/phytosanitary standards, and scaling up industrial processing capacity.
Neither Washington nor Beijing has publicly spoken about the moves as competitive, but analysts and diplomats widely view them as part of a long-term, largely silent contest for economic primacy and political influence in Africa — a resource-rich continent whose population is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.
Business
Fearless Fund Expands to Africa, Launches Microfinance Fund in Ghana to Empower Women Entrepreneurs
Fearless Fund, the U.S.-based venture capital firm dedicated to investing in women of color, has officially expanded into Africa with the launch of a dedicated microfinance fund in Ghana.
The announcement, made on February 6, 2026, marks the organisation’s first major step onto the continent and aims to provide accessible capital, mentorship, and business support to women-led micro and small enterprises.
The Ghana Microfinance Fund will offer low-interest loans, grants, and non-financial support (including financial literacy training, digital skills workshops, and market access connections) to women entrepreneurs in underserved communities. Initial focus areas include agriculture, retail, fashion, beauty, food processing, and digital services — sectors where women dominate but often lack formal financing.
Fearless Fund CEO Arian Simone stated: “Ghana is a gateway for our African expansion. We see incredible potential in Ghanaian women who are building businesses against significant odds. This fund is designed to remove financial barriers and help them scale sustainably.”
The initiative partners with local microfinance institutions, women’s cooperatives, and Ghanaian fintech players to ensure wide reach, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas.
It also aligns with Ghana’s national agenda to promote financial inclusion, youth and women entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment under the “Reset Ghana” framework.
The launch comes amid growing recognition of the financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa, where women own over 40% of micro and small businesses but receive less than 10% of formal credit. Fearless Fund plans to scale the model across other African markets in the coming years.
The fund’s Ghana rollout is expected to disburse its first round of capital in Q2 2026, with applications opening soon through partner institutions.
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