Effective Friday, October 8, 2021, all Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) in Ghana will be obliged to use digital weighing scales to measure the weight of cocoa being purchased by farmers.

The introduction of this electronic means of weighing cocoa beans is to curb the practice where LBCs and Purchasing Clerks adjust their scales to cheat cocoa farmers.

According to Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, “the scale has been certified by the Ghana Standard Authority and has been ascertained to conform to mandatory requirements. Cocoa buyers cannot adjust the weighing scale after it has been calibrated and sealed by the Ghana Standard Authority.”

The decision to introduce the electronic scale “was to deal with the problem we have identified whereby Licensed Buying agents were tampering with the scales they were using and putting the farmers at a disadvantaged position,” Head of Public Affairs at COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo said in an earlier interview with Citi Business News.

According to him, “the chief executive [of COCOBOD] went round the country and also stopped at some stations and realized that they had tampered with the scales”.

With the new initiative, all cocoa farmers in the country will be registered and issued with cards that will enable them to sell their cocoa beans in the country and earn the true worth of their produce.

Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto urged “the LBCs to cooperate with the Ghana Standard Authority to set up the scales” to assist the farmers to enjoy the full benefits from their investments.