Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong said on Wednesday that Ghana has raised the fixed producer price paid to cocoa farmers by nearly 45% in order to increase their incomes and discourage the smuggling of beans.

At the launch of Ghana's 2024/25 cocoa season, the minister of agriculture indicated that the price increase is unprecedented and takes effect from Wednesday. Global cocoa prices have been supported this year as diseases and adverse weather conditions in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, which provide more than 60% of the world's cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, have pushed the market into a third consecutive deficit. Ghanaian cocoa farmers said they expected production to increase for the 2024/2025 season thanks to better weather conditions and some farms being rehabilitated after illnesses and illegal gold mining