The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says it has started making payments to Licenced Buying Companies (LBCs) to enable them pay cocoa farmers for their produce.

This comes after concerns were raised about cocoa farmers going unpaid for several months. Isaac Yaw Opoku, Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, speaking on behalf of the Minority in Parliament at a presser in Accra on Thursday February 5 warned that delays in payments to farmers were creating hardship and threatening the cocoa industry.

He noted that COCOBOD owes LBCs more than GH¢10 billion for cocoa already purchased, leaving the companies financially constrained.

Responding to this in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News, Jerome Kwaku Sam, Head of Corporate Communications at COCOBOD explained that delays in accessing syndicated funding forced the board to rely on international buyers to finance cocoa purchases.

These arrangements, he said, came with conditions that required the LBCs to pay for cocoa, with COCOBOD reimbursing them later.

“In fact, November we made over GHS6 billion, December we made over GHS5 billion, and even January we made GHS6 billion. This month alone we have paid over GHS620 million,” Mr. Sam further stated.

“…We are indeed paying monies to them (LBCs) for them to also pay the farmers whatever amount that is outstanding.”

He added that the board is working on a new financing model under the current administration to ensure that the sector is better funded and that delays like those experienced do not recur.

Mr. Sam stressed that the delayed payments were not the result of COCOBOD failing in its duties but were caused by a combination of funding challenges, changes in financing arrangements, and the need to develop a more sustainable system.

COCOBOD said it remains committed to ensuring that farmers receive their payments promptly and that the cocoa sector operates efficiently for all stakeholders.