Directive to use E-scales to weigh cocoa beans positive

Standards are important and necessary in all facets of life, as they facilitate communication, measurement, commerce and manufacturing.

That is why we have the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) that works in tandem with other institutions to set standards and certification in conformity with international principles.

That is also why the directive by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for licensed buying companies (LBCs) to use electronic scales for weighing cocoa beans across the country can be a step in the positive direction.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD in charge of Operations, Dr Emmanuel Opoku, at a stakeholders’ meeting on cocoa farm gate pricing and incomes of farmers last Wednesday, directed cocoa purchasing companies to start using electronic scales to buy the beans from farmers from October this year. (See Daily Graphic of Friday, February 7, 2020.)

For us at the Daily Graphic, the directive to LBCs to use electronic weighing scales is commendable.

It is our contention that the use of the electronic scales will, among many other benefits, help dispel the suspicion among cocoa farmers that cocoa purchasing companies, particularly purchasing clerks, cheat them (farmers) when weighing the beans to purchase.

Indeed, the agency that initiated the conversation around farm gate pricing and farmers' incomes, SEND Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, found in a study that there was perceived weighing scale adjustment fraud at the point of sale of cocoa beans.

In line with that, the use of electronic weighing scales is important to ensure that the purchase and the sale of our cocoa beans meet international standards and are devoid of cheating.

Thirdly, with the influential role that our farmers play in the country, helping us all earn foreign exchange and ensuring that we have food on our tables daily, the least policymakers can do is give them an unbreakable assurance that their toils will not be in vain and that they will be paid what is rightfully due them from their endeavours.

The Daily Graphic would, however, like to join the farmers in their call for the government to make the use of the electronic scales mandatory and affordable. Every purchasing clerk in every nook and cranny of Ghana must be impressed upon to purchase beans weighed electronically.

Perhaps, some means by which farmers can confirm that their beans have been weighed electronically and to their satisfaction must be instituted by COCOBOD to assuage farmers, as partners in this worthy endeavour.

Additionally, it is our belief that mass sensitisation and education on the weighing scales is appropriate and important for the success of this policy directive.

Perhaps, more importantly, agricultural extension officers must sensitise farmers in the hinterlands to what electronic scales are all about and what to look out for when their cocoa beans are being weighed.

Before the commencement of the directive in October this year, we would like to urge COCOBOD and the government to deploy their full force in ensuring that all LBCs and purchasing clerks are on the same page, sensitised and actively engaged to give farmers their due when buying cocoa beans from them.

Farmers must also be sensitised to entrench assurances and to make them able administrators and guardians of the new directive.

The GSA, we believe, should also get involved to ensure that the scales procured by the LBCs are properly calibrated for use.

Finally, the Daily Graphic commends SEND for its research-led advocacy on development issues that has brought to the fore the challenges of cocoa purchases and pricing in the country.

The Daily Graphic would like to encourage all partners to get on board and work towards assuring those by whose toil the cocoa sector exists, farmers, of a just reward for their toils.