COCOBOD orders licensed buying companies to use electronic weighing scales

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) that gave this direction said this begins from October this year.

This is coming after cocoa farmers have said that they suspect LBCs adjusted their weighing scales in order to pay them less for their beans.

The Chairman of the Cocoa Abrabopa Association, Mr Ismaila Pomasi, who spoke on behalf of cocoa farmers, said: “We farmers are not comfortable with how cocoa is weighed.”

He said the government must ensure that all LBCs used electronic weighing scales as they had the suspicion that many of them had adjusted their weighing scales, hence making the farmers lose out.

This is to help clear all suspicions that cocoa purchasing companies, especially purchasing clerks, adjust their weighing scales to cheat cocoa farmers at the point of weighing the dried cocoa beans.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the COCOBOD in charge of Operations, Dr Emmanuel Opoku, the LBCs will buy the electronic weighing scales themselves.

He said they are committed to protecting the interest of cocoa farmers and will work tirelessly to ensure this is done.

Management system

Dr Opoku indicated that plans are far advanced to introduce a cocoa management system to ensure coordination in all value chain activities in the cocoa sector.

He explained that the system would ensure all cocoa farmers are registered into a database to make sure that only cocoa farmers traded out cocoa beans.

He added that data is currently being collected in six districts as part of the process to pilot the cocoa management system. He explained that this will help them deal with the theft of the beans by unscrupulous people.