Ghana's cocoa industry is introducing a new financial strategy to support the purchase of beans from local producers, following challenges with international loans and the limitations of pre-financing by traders. The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), which oversees the sector, has raised 3.39 billion cedis (288 million USD) domestically through its subsidiary, Cocoa Capital, which is managing the new financing program. The bonds, issued on October 5, offer an 11% yield and are set to mature on June 28, 2027. This amount accounts for about 85% of the original target of 4 billion cedis (340 million USD). The initial funding is meant to provide liquidity to approved companies that buy cocoa beans from producers. As the 2026/2027 cocoa season approaches, the Ghana Cocoa Traders Chamber noted that Cocobod still owed 4 billion cedis to Licensed Buying Companies (LBC), which are approved to purchase beans. These outstanding payments limited the LBCs’ ability to secure new credit to return to plantations, while they continued to cover the costs of loans for previous purchases. The new program, officially launched on September 25, allows up to 16.3 billion cedis in bonds to be issued. The structure divides the funding into two parts: 14 billion cedis for short-term debt to finance the 2026/2027 campaign and 2.3 billion cedis for medium- and long-term bonds to restructure old Cocobod debts. The issuance of these bonds will be done in stages, depending on cash flow needs and market conditions. To ensure repayment, the program relies on revenue from forward sales contracts for cocoa, which are transferred to Cocoa Capital. These funds must pass through specific accounts and be distributed according to a payment plan outlined by the program. This change follows the decline of traditional financing methods used for decades. For over thirty years, Cocobod relied on syndicated loans from international banks. However, during the 2023/2024 campaign, the first tranche of funding was only received on December 22, 2023, several months after the season began, according to government financial reports. This delay between commitments and the harvest created tensions. Cocobod had planned for 800,000 tons of production and committed to 786,672 tons in contracts, but the actual harvest reached only 432,145 tons. This poor performance led to significant delays in deliveries. In July 2024, a 70 million USD emergency loan from the Ministry of Finance was required to prevent a default on the last part of the syndicated loan. The subsequent model relied on advances from international traders, but this made the collection process dependent on their willingness to pre-finance purchases. By February 2026, the government deemed this model unsustainable, as incentives for buyers to provide advances weakened as old low-price contracts were fulfilled and their advantage over current market prices diminished. The 2026/2027 cocoa campaign in Ghana began on September 25.