Claim: The Finance Minister made no policy announcement on the cocoa sector in the 2026 mid-year budget.
Source: Alexander Afenyo-Markin (Minority Leader)
Verdict: False
Researched by Charlotte Gbonsu
On July 23, 2026, the Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, delivered the 2026 Mid-Year Fiscal review on the floor of Parliament. As a tradition of the house, the Minority and Majority side of the House were given the opportunity to comment on the presentation through their respective leaders.
In response to the Finance Minister’s presentation, the Minority Leader, Afenyo-Markin said;
“Mr. Speaker, throughout his review, there was no policy announcement for the cocoa sector. The four million farmers, the four million cocoa farmers are suffering. The four million farmers, the four million cocoa farmers are suffering. This Finance Minister since he took over as the supervising minister responsible for cocoa, we have seen suffering and wailing and he comes here to lament,” he said. (watch from 2:23:00 mark onwards).
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This fact-check will verify the claim about there being no policy announcement on the cocoa sector.
Fact-check
Our checks from Parliament’s livestream of the address on its YouTube page, as well as the full text of presentation as posted on the website of the Finance Ministry, show that the Finance Minister made a number of policy announcements on the cocoa sector.
The Finance Minister said the following;
- The government will submit a new COCOBOD Bill to Parliament to repeal and replace the Ghana Cocoa Board Act, 1984 (PNDCL 81). The Bill will among others,
- Introduce a new producer pricing mechanism linked to the global market.
- Establish a new financing framework for cocoa purchases and related operations, ensure that not less than 50 percent of Ghana’s cocoa beans are locally processed.
- Government will guarantee cocoa farmers not less than 70 percent of the gross Free-on-Board (FOB) price.
He made this statement at the 1:48:13 mark onwards of the mid-year budget broadcast. The minister’s policy announcements for the cocoa sector can also be found (here at page 30) of the mid-year budget speech.
Verdict:
The claim by Afenyo-Markin that there was no policy announcement on the cocoa sector during the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review is false.
