Head of Public Relations at COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo, has disclosed that the Board will rollout an enhanced pilot scheme for a new digital platform for farmers which will commence on October 1.
According to him, the platform is intended to stimulate digital economy and ensure the security of cocoa farmers. When operational, no farmer is expected to receive cash for any cocoa beans sold to them.
“The enhanced pilot scheme is expected to be rolled out beginning the next cocoa season which is 1st of October. But the expectation is that, by next year, fully, every cocoa farmer would have been registered and given a card with the necessary data of himself and his farm also put together… farmers can fully enjoy the benefits of this arrangement”.
Fiifi Boafo
Mr Boafo further explained that it is prudent to have a system where farmers are able to track and account [monies paid into accounts]. This, he elaborated, will enable farmers use it as a basis to “attract a loan from the bank to help their activity”.
“We are able to take all those challenges and bottlenecks within the system out and the farmers themselves get the benefit. The issue about payment to farmers for example using the digital means, it helps us to track how much a farmer is receiving. It serves as a sort of guarantee for the farmer where the farmer can use it as a source of basis where he can use it to get a loan from a bank. Because in most instances, farmers will tell you that one of the major challenges they face is access to loans for their activities, where in some instances, they go to some LBCs, take money and the amount of compensation or interest on that loan is huge”.
Fiifi Boafo
Cocoa farmer confident of new digital platform
Meanwhile, Samuel Tetteh, cocoa farmer, has welcomed the digital platform and also the reduction of electronic weighing scale to avert farmers being short-changed.
“Indeed, it is a very good idea to help cocoa farmers have their cocoa beans weighed by the electronic scale. I believe that once we [use the] scale, the issue of people tampering with the scale will be a thing of the past. I think it will work out well provided we will get every farmer to have a bank account.
Samuel Tetteh
He further asserted that if we can find some control on some aspects of Momo transactions, “that one will also work”.
“But the bank account is so important. It will help farmers… to even access loans”.
Samuel Tetteh
COCOBOD announces use of electronic weighing scales
On August 19,2021, Ghana’s cocoa regulator, COCOBOD, announced that LBCs will switch to the use of electronic weighing scales.
According to COCOBOD’s CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, some 44,000 weighing scales have already been procured and distributed to the LBCs.
He further revealed that the primary reason for the move is to resolves concerns by cocoa farmers. The concerns include some LBCs adjusting their weighing scales which largely impact on their profit margins.
“We have worked on this together with the LBCs in total agreement to change the weighing scales from the manual to the electronic system. We wanted the kind that can be used everywhere in the country. So, we have procured both electronic and solar scales. This will end the days when our cocoa farmers felt cheated by LBCs who they claimed adjusted their weighing scales”.
Joseph Boahen Aidoo
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