Ghana's parliament has passed a bill granting all cocoa farms protected status, making it a criminal offence for farmers to repurpose their land without government authorisation, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison — the harshest sentences reserved for cases involving illegal gold mining on cocoa land. The bill, passed on Thursday but not made public until Sunday, has yet to be signed by President John Mahama. Farmers have criticised the measure as unfair, arguing that many invest their own resources to acquire and cultivate land for years with little state support, and that protections of this kind should be matched with meaningful government assistance for production costs.