Bloomberg reported that Ghana raised its farm gate price for cocoa by 21 percent after implementing a USD 400 per metric ton premium on futures prices for the 2020-21 harvest. Growers of cocoa beans in the world’s second-largest producer of the crop will receive 625 cedis (approx. USD 108) per 64-kg bag, or 10,000 cedis per ton, for the harvest season that begins 1 October and continues through September 2021 after the so-called Living-Income Differential (LID) was charged on the beans. This compares to 515 cedis per a bag and 8,240 cedis per a ton in the current season that ends 30 September.

Ghana and neighbouring Ivory Coast, the world’s largest grower of the crop, announced in July last year that the LID would raise the pay of farmers. The pricing mechanism received mixed reactions from traders as the premium couldn’t be hedged.

The farm gate price increase for Ghana’s estimated 800,000 cocoa farmers may boost President Nana Akufo-Addo’s chances of re-election in December’s election. He is running against former leader and main opposition candidate John Dramani Mahama.