There is a potential cocoa war brewing. The Jomoro Cocoa Farmers in the Western Region of Ghana have threatened to sell their cocoa in Cote d’Ivoire should the falsification of the weighing scales by cocoa purchasing clerks continue, reports Ghana Business News.
More than 8,000 farmers have expressed their concerns to the Ghana Cocoa Board, the regulatory authority.
According to Paul Kodjo, the Chairman of the Association, said though stakeholders and the COCOBOD met on the matter about three years ago, but little had been done to resolve the issue which was greatly affecting the farmers’ revenue.
Farmers have lost close to 20 kilograms of cocoa through this unruly method by purchasing clerks and cocoa buying companies, said Kodjo.
“It is disappointing that the 100,000 weighing stones imported by government have been shielded by these people in order to engage in their nefarious activities,” the Chairman said.
The farmers’ association also recommended that COCOBOD provide farmers with electronic and sealed cocoa weighing scales to mitigate the falsification and tilting of the scales by purchasing clerks.
“We are disappointed by the fact that all these recommendations have not been implemented for more than a year,” Kodjo said.
If things are corrected in two weeks, the farmers threatened that Ghana will lose its cocoa revenue to Cote d’Ivoire.
