The Ghana Cocoa Board has relaunched its Free Fertilizer and Agro-Input Programme, shifting from a 50 per cent subsidy to fully free distribution of fertilizer and related farm inputs. The relaunch was held on Friday, November 6, at Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region under the theme “Cocoa Sector Reset: Free Fertilizer for Increased Productivity and Improved Farmer Income,” bringing together government officials, traditional leaders, farmers and other actors in the cocoa value chain.
COCOBOD says more than 3.5 million bags of granular fertilizer have been procured for farmers nationwide, with about 1.2 million bags already delivered. The package also includes about 1.8 million litres of liquid fertilizer, 2.3 million litres of insecticide and 1.5 million kilogrammes of fungicide. Officials say pneumatic and motorised sprayers will also be supplied, and about 5.7 million litres of pre-mixed fuel have been provided to support mechanical application of liquid fertilizer and insecticides. In the Western North Region alone, farmers in eleven districts — including Sefwi Boako, Juaboso, Bodi, Akontombra, Bibiani and Enchi — are among those lined up to benefit as distribution rolls out.
Eligible farmers are those with mature, productive cocoa farms in designated operational districts whose farms are registered and mapped on the Digital Cocoa Management System (CMS). At collection points, identities are to be checked with the Ghana Card or biometric data. Chief Executive Officer Dr Randy Abbey said the new digital distribution system follows every bag or litre from warehouse to farm, calculates each farmer’s entitlement from the marked size and condition of the farm, and is meant to stop ghost names, collection in another person’s name, and arbitrary changes by officers at the point of issue.
Board Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo framed the relaunch as relief for farmers facing ageing trees, labour shortages and declining soil fertility, and as part of efforts to reverse falling production and raise incomes. The programme is also linked by officials to the government’s 24-Hour Economy and FEED Ghana agricultural agenda, and fulfils a pledge President John Dramani Mahama made earlier in 2026 at the launch of a Farmer Service Centre in the Eastern Region.
Dr Abbey cautioned against diverting, hoarding, selling or smuggling the free inputs, warning that officers, buyers or others caught abusing the scheme would face the full force of the law. Farmers, he said, must use the inputs on their own cocoa farms. Sector challenges flagged alongside the relaunch include swollen shoot disease, capsid pests and climate variability — problems free fertilizer alone will not solve, but which officials say are part of a broader reset of how the state supports producers.
Whether free fertilizer reaches the smallholder at the end of the line — and whether the CMS holds up against diversion that plagued earlier subsidy rounds — will be tested as distribution continues through the 2026 season.