Ghana’s Parliament has passed the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) Bill, 2026, marking the most comprehensive overhaul of the country’s cocoa sector in more than four decades.
The legislation, which still awaits President John Mahama’s assent before becoming law, replaces the Ghana Cocoa Board Act of 1984 and related legislation with a single legal framework to modernise the industry, improve farmers’ welfare, and protect one of Ghana’s most strategically important export sectors.
The centrepiece of the bill is the designation of all cocoa farms as protected land. Once enacted, farmers will be prohibited from converting cocoa farms to other uses, including real estate development or alternative crops, without prior government approval.
The legislation also introduces tough penalties. Anyone found guilty of illegally converting protected cocoa land faces between 10 and 20 years’ imprisonment.
Individuals engaged in illegal mining on cocoa farms face the same prison term, along with financial penalties based on the number of cocoa trees they destroyed.
Existing penalties for cocoa smuggling, including prison terms of between five and ten years and the revocation of buying licences, remain in force.
Alongside tougher laws, the legislation provides a range of incentives intended to rebuild confidence in the cocoa sector.
It legally guarantees that cocoa farmers receive at least 70% of the Free-on-Board export price, establishes a contributory Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme and an Educational Trust Scheme for farmers’ children, and creates Cocoa Stabilisation, Diversification and Debt Sinking Funds to strengthen the industry’s longterm financial sustainability.
The bill requires at least 50% of Ghana’s cocoa beans to be processed domestically to promote domestic value add and job creation. It further establishes a specialised Cocoa Board Tribunal to improve regulatory enforcement and accelerate the resolution of licensing and sector disputes.
However, the legislation has also faced criticism. Some farmer organisations argue that producers invest their own resources to acquire, develop, and maintain cocoa farms, making the restrictions an infringement on private property rights and limiting their ability to respond to changing economic conditions.
Critics also question whether the government can consistently honour the legally mandated 70% producer price given Cocobod’s financial challenges.
Some opposition lawmakers have criticised Parliament’s decision to pass the bill under a Certificate of Urgency, arguing that the legislation affects about one million farmers and warrants broader consultation.
Recognising these concerns, Cocobod launched a nationwide stakeholder engagement campaign in August to educate farmers, licensed buying companies, and civil society organisations on the legislation and its implementation.
The consultations aim to improve cocoa stakeholders’ understanding of the new framework, address concerns, and facilitate the smooth rollout of the new legislation.
These reforms come as Ghana battles mounting losses from cocoa smuggling and illegal gold mining (galamsey) and faces growing international pressure to strengthen environmental governance. Cocobod estimates that more than 473,000 tonnes of cocoa were smuggled to Côte d’Ivoire and Togo between the 2021/22 and 2024/25 harvest seasons, costing Ghana approximately $1.1bn in lost revenue.
Authorities have also accused officials at some licensed buying companies of using government funds to purchase smuggled cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire, highlighting the illicit trading networks.
The wide price gap between the two countries – cocoa sells for roughly GHȼ1,200 per 64 kg bag in Côte d’Ivoire versus GHȼ2,587 in Ghana – has also reversed traditional trade flows and encourages cross-border illicit trade.
At the same time, galamsey has destroyed thousands of hectares of cocoa farms, while the EU’s anti-deforestation regulations have increased pressure on Ghana to strengthen oversight of cocoa production and improve traceability across the supply chain.
WHY DO WE CARE?
The passage of the bill, alongside sweeping reforms in Ghana’s gold sector, highlights Mahama’s commitment to delivering on his electoral pledges to improve governance in the country’s two most strategic export industries.
The objectives are to curb illicit activity, strengthen state oversight, and ensure that a greater share of resource wealth benefits Ghanaians. The tougher cocoa penalties also form part of a broader crackdown on illicit economic activity.
Over the past three months, authorities have intensified efforts to combat galamsey and stepped up measures against organised trafficking networks.
While we remain sceptical that the government can consistently deliver on some of the bill’s more ambitious commitments, especially the legally mandated 70% producer price, given Ghana’s fiscal constraints, we view the reforms as a positive step for the sector.
While implementation is likely to be gradual, we expect the legislation to be broadly well received by investors and industry stakeholders as a signal of stronger regulatory oversight. Still, its long-term success will ultimately depend on the government’s ability to implement and enforce the reforms effectively.
