Cabinet orders 50% local processing of cocoa from 2026–2027 season

Cabinet has approved a far-reaching directive requiring that a minimum of 50% of Ghana’s cocoa beans be processed locally starting from the 2026–2027 crop season, in a decisive move to expand value addition and transform the structure of the cocoa industry.

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced the policy on Thursday, February 12, explaining that the new requirement will be formally entrenched in the COCOBOD Bill expected to be presented to Parliament.

He said the directive forms part of sweeping reforms designed to reposition the cocoa sector, strengthen its financial base and increase its overall impact on the national economy.

As a transitional measure, Dr Forson disclosed that all remaining cocoa beans for the 2025–2026 crop year will be channelled into domestic processing. According to him, this immediate intervention is aimed at stimulating local industrial production and laying the groundwork for the mandatory 50% processing benchmark in the next season.

The Minister also announced plans to urgently revive the state-owned Cocoa Processing Company, describing its restoration as critical to meeting the new domestic processing target and restoring confidence in the sector’s industrial capacity.

“I have also this morning, together with my colleague, the Minister responsible for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, met with domestic cocoa processors cutting across the private sector, who have indicated that they have the capacity and the willingness to process more than 50% of Ghana’s cocoa beans going forward,” he added.