Cocoa Farmers Boycott NDC Meeting

Cocoa farmers in the Ahafo Ano North District have delivered a stinging rebuke to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), boycotting a meeting with local party leadership and instead flocking to an engagement with the Minority Caucus in a dramatic escalation of protests over the government’s controversial producer price reduction.

The farmers, still fuming over the slash in the price per bag from GH¢3,625 to GH¢2,587, accused the government of treating them with contempt.

“How can you drastically reduce the price and then come to meet us? What exactly are you coming to tell us?” one farmer demanded angrily at the Minority’s forum in Bonkrom-Tepa.

The snub triggered a tense standoff when NDC functionaries mounted tents directly opposite the venue where Minority leaders, led by Frank Annoh-Dompreh, were addressing the farmers. Security personnel were forced to intervene as hundreds of agitated farmers gathered, creating a charged atmosphere that threatened to spiral into confrontation.

The farmers insisted they deliberately shunned the NDC meeting, arguing that any engagement after such a harsh and unjustified price cut—announced without consultation—lacked sincerity and respect for their livelihoods.

The Minority Caucus, on a nationwide tour to assess the impact of the reduction, has seized on the discontent, positioning itself as the voice of aggrieved farmers in Parliament and sharply criticising what it describes as a policy that unfairly punishes those who toil on the farms.

The incident underscores a deepening crisis of trust in the cocoa sector, with farmers across growing regions expressing fury over declining incomes, soaring input costs, and a government they accuse of sidelining them in decisions that determine their economic survival.