Value chains & market institutions

COCOBOD licenses private and state buying companies to buy cocoa from farmers, and 48 of the 65 participating companies bought cocoa in 2020/21¹. Private buying companies have taken part since 1992/93². The Quality Control Company grades and seals cocoa in 73 districts, according to its website, and the Cocoa Marketing Company handles exports³⁴. The Producer Price Review Committee sets the producer price, buyers' margins and haulage rates, and was chaired by the Minister for Finance in August 2025⁵. A Living Income Differential of US$400 per tonne, agreed with Côte d'Ivoire, has applied since 2020/21⁶. A Cocoa Sector Marketing Committee inaugurated in October 2025 reviews the performance of buying companies and recommends licences⁷.

COCOBOD reported arrears to farmers in the 2025/26 season. It released GH¢3.62 billion to buying companies on 3 March 2026 as part payment of arrears owed to farmers, and on 2 July 2026 it reported payments of GH¢34.52 billion since the start of the season and earmarked about GH¢1.4 billion to clear balances for cocoa taken on credit⁸⁹. By June 2023 the Cocoa Management System had measured 1,239,169 farms of 761,753 farmers, and in September 2026 COCOBOD reported the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System fully deployed¹⁰¹¹. Farmers contribute 5% of the value of beans sold to a pension scheme and COCOBOD 1%, with deductions from 6 August 2024¹²¹³.

Planting for Food and Jobs began in 2017 and distributed subsidised fertiliser and seed, 424,000 t of fertiliser in 2020 according to MoFA's subsidy table, with a farmers' price for NPK fertiliser of GH¢48 per 25-kg bag against a full cost of GH¢73–80 in 2021²²²³. PFJ 2.0, from April 2023, replaced the subsidy with input credit recovered from harvested produce²⁴. In 2024 the Government distributed 180,625 t of fertiliser and 7,553 t of seed to 344,930 farmers, including support to flood and dry-spell victims and input credit²⁵. The Feed Ghana Programme, launched in April 2025, plans inputs on credit from 2026, 270 Farmer Service Centres and 100,000 ha of production enclaves by 2028, at an estimated cost of GH¢302.21 billion²⁶. By the 2026 Budget statement (November 2025), 50,000 t of fertiliser and 3,000 t of seed (own sum, 2,000 t hybrid maize and 1,000 t rice seed, 2026 Budget para 431) had been distributed under it, and in September 2026 MoFA signed a memorandum of understanding for a fertiliser blending plant with a planned capacity of 500,000 t a year²⁷²⁸.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture spent GH¢2.35 billion in 2024 against an approved budget of GH¢3.32 billion, about US$166 million at the 2024 average rate (own conversion)²⁹³⁰. Its 2026 allocation is GH¢3.04 billion, about US$270 million at the Bank of Ghana rate of end-August 2026 (own conversion), including GH¢690 million for 50 Farmer Service Centres and GH¢515 million for fertiliser and certified seed²⁷³¹. MoFA's arrears and payables stood at GH¢2.38 billion at the end of 2024²⁵. No official fertiliser import series was found, and UN Comtrade queries for HS 31 could not be completed within the shared call quota.

The Ghana Commodity Exchange began operating in November 2018, and by late 2023 it had facilitated trade of close to 50,000 t of maize, rice, soya and cashew worth over GH¢280 million from eight warehouses³²²⁴. Its website listed 9 certified warehouses and 6 commodities in October 2026, and SEC guidelines of April 2019 govern commodity exchanges and warehouse receipts⁴³⁴⁴⁴⁵. No figures on warehouse receipt financing were found. The National Food Buffer Stock Company made a net profit of GH¢91.7 million in 2025 and bought more than 20,000 t of grain between January and June 2026⁴⁶⁴².

The Department of Co-operatives registered 914 new societies in all sectors in 2024, after 5,955 formed in 2020, and MoFA's portal listed 63,039 co-operatives and farmer-based organisations with 661,687 farmers by the 2026 Budget statement (November 2025)²⁵³⁷²⁷. The prevalence of undernourishment was 6.4% in 2024⁴⁷.