NPP will not support any attempt to criminalise cocoa farmers – Isaac Yaw Opoku

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it will not support any legislation or policy that seeks to criminalise cocoa farmers in Ghana.

Chairman of the NPP Policy Committee on Agriculture and Ranking Member of Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, said the party would resist any measure that imposes excessive restrictions on farmers in the management of their cocoa farms.

“What we cannot support is a test that criminalises cocoa husbandry, that criminalises farmers for the Cocoa Board’s own registration backlog, which leaves the door open for fragmentation for external marketing,” he said at a press conference at the NPP headquarters on Sunday, August 9, 2026.

Dr Opoku described aspects of the newly passed Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, as unacceptable, particularly Clause 81.

“As it stands, major provisions in the new cocoa board law will hit cocoa farmers,” he added.

According to him, the provision appears to give the Ghana Cocoa Board extensive control over the destruction or uprooting of cocoa trees and could expose farmers to criminal sanctions for decisions concerning their own farms.

He argued that the provision was unenforceable because it could criminalise legitimate farming activities, including the removal of old, diseased or unproductive cocoa trees.

Dr Opoku also expressed concern that Clause 81 could give the state greater control over land ownership and its use, potentially undermining the rights of landowners and cocoa farmers.

“It is our considered analysis that this provision is unenforceable as drafted and will lend itself to abuse, to arbitrary arrest, to extortion at the farm gate and to the harassment of an already struggling farming population,” he said.

“We say this against a background in which we are already witnessing the abuse of Sections 207 and 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29,” he claimed.

Dr Opoku maintained that the government must engage farmers, landowners and other stakeholders before implementing provisions that could have significant implications for the cocoa sector.

He further called for the controversial provisions of the Bill to be reconsidered, warning that excessive regulation could discourage investment in cocoa farming and undermine the livelihoods of farmers.

The NPP’s position forms part of its broader opposition to what it describes as the rushed passage of the Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament after being laid on July 28.

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