Lower Lofa: Cocoa Price Drops with Smuggling on the Increase in Neighboring Sierra Leone

J. Mason Kollie |Lofa County Correspondent

Wanhassa District, Lofa County –Sunday 19, 2025-Cocoa farmers in lower Lofa County particularly Massabolahun Town, Kailahun and surrounding villages are complaining that the Buying price for dried Cocoa have dropped immensely beyond expectation.

According to some of the cocoa farmers who spoke to this news outlet, smugglers from Sierra Leone and Guinea are purchasing cocoa for LD $500/ LD$600 per Kilo from famers and taking same to their respective countries.

“But just few days ago, we observed that the cocoa price has dropped from $500LD to $250 LD,” Salia Kamara from Massabolahun, a cocoa farmer said.

The cocoa smugglers from Sierra Leone and Guinea are in various communities, villages and towns buying cocoa at very cheap prices and upon taking back to their countries, they are making huge profits.

Cocoa farmers Blame LACRA

The original price for buying Cocoa from farmers set by the Liberia Agriculture Community Regulatory Authority (LACRA) in Liberia is USD $5.00/ LD$850 per kilo.

According to authority at (LACRA), the price is high because they are looking for high grade cocoa types from famers. “Unfortunately, those who are buying the cocoa products for $250 LD  are not focusing on the types of grades of cocoa , the  guys buy grade A, B, and C and smuggle all to Sierra Leone and Guinea,” Mohammed Kanneh; another cocoa farmer explained to a team of reporters.

Moreover, the cocoa farmers have indicated that they rarely see LACRA salesmen cum buyers though the authority says, it is buying the cocoa at a good price for high grade products, “but we can’t even see them in our communities, and towns buying at all.”

“Sometimes we want to sell our cocoa to LACRA but they are nowhere to be found, and we have to sell to those who are available in order to solve our problems. So the illegal cocoa smugglers are the people we see around our towns and villages everyday buying cocoa at a very cheap price and getting more profits from us. In this case, we blame LACRA because we are not seeing them to buy the product from us. Sadly, we only hear them on radio station that they are buying cocoa for $5 USD but we don’t know their buying points,” Solomon Fomba; a practicing journalist from lower Lofa remarked through a telephone conversation on Thursday October 16, 2025 .

Meanwhile, LACRA’s Lofa County Coordinator Augustine K. Argbah said, they are investigating those who are involved in this ugly act and will make public after their investigation.

Few days ago acting Director General of LACRA Dan Saryee ended his tour of the county with three separate meetings involving the county authority represented by Development Superintendent Francis Egu Lansana, members of the joint security and farmers as well as local buyers.

One key issue the Acting DG stressed during these meetings was the continuous smuggling of cocoa to neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The porous borders and the many informal entry points have been identified as a major contributing factor.

Mr. Saryee called on the joint security to work and ensure that no cocoa is smuggled to other countries, adding that LACRA will coordinate with other agencies of government to stop the smuggling of cocoa and other agriculture commodities.

For his part, Development Superintendent Francis Egu Lansana who spoke on behalf of the County’s administration, thanked Hon. Saryee for visiting Lofa and pledged his leadership commitment in working with LACRA to curtail smuggling and other issues surrounding cocoa as well as other agriculture commodities.

For their part, members of the joint security told acting DG Saryee that cocoa smuggling will only stop if there is a presence of exporters who will be ready to buy the commodity at LACRA stipulated price.

This, the joint security believes will encourage farmers to sell their produce in Liberia and not neighboring countries.

During the meeting, farmers and local buyers also called on LACRA to work with the CDA in strengthening cooperatives across Lofa County.