ELECTRONIC SEALABLE WEIGHING SCALES WILL END SCALE ADJUSTMENTS - COCOBOD

To stop the illegal adjustments of scales used to weigh cocoa beans at sheds (cocoa purchasing and weighing points) run by Licenced Buying Companies (LBCs), the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will distribute
tamper-proof electronic sealable weighing scales to LBCs.

The new electronic scales were recommended by the Ghana Standards Authority, following an inspection of the mechanical scales presently used across the country for the weighing of cocoa. The electronic scales will be given to the LBCs at a cost, as COCOBOD aims to totally stop the use of the
mechanical scales and any form of scale tampering.

Dr Emmanuel Opoku, the Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD in charge of Operations said this at a press conference held today (05/08/2020), at the Cocoa House in Accra to update the public on measures been taken to deal
with the tampering of cocoa weighing scales.

This follows the recent airing of a 2018 documentary film on scale tampering within the cocoa sector by the Multimedia Group on their Joy
News channel.

Management, Dr Opoku said, “takes this issue of weighing scale tampering very seriously and has on several occasions condemned the practice and similar acts”. As such, COCOBOD wants to end the “condemnable act”
and its “regressive impact on interventions that COCOBOD has put in place to improve the earnings and livelihoods of cocoa farmers.”

He said, following a preliminary inspection tour of LBC sheds, led by the Chief Executive in 2018, the management of COCOBOD commissioned the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to perform a thorough inspection of all weighing scales used at LBCs to gather empirical evidence on the extent of the problem of scale adjustments.

Based on the report from GSA, which found that the practice was systemic, management settled on two solutions: a preventive reform measure and a punitive measure.

Dr Emmanuel Opoku said, in the meantime while the procurement process for the new weighing scales is ongoing, the punitive measure will be applied in the upcoming cocoa season. LBCs will be surcharged with the monetary equivalent of the aggregated weight from cocoa sheds across
the country that the LBC in question may have short-changed the unsuspecting farmers, once GSA confirms adjustment of such weighing scales.

The amount which the LBCs have been surcharged with will then be paid to the farmers who sold their cocoa at those sheds.

Even though the documentary by the Multimedia Group is belated, given that it was produced in 2018, and does not capture the steps which COCOBOD has taken since 2018 to tackle the problem, Dr Opoku, nonetheless, commended the media house and its journalist for making a
documentary on the problem.

He added that “the work of the media in shining light on the situation and improvement as we progress, as well as the vigilance of our field staff and the cocoa farmers themselves, will together play a crucial role in eliminating this cocoa canker.”

He expressed confidence that COCOBOD’s Farmer Data/Cocoa Information Management System, which is underway, when ready will improve overall monitoring of the supply chain, so that, issues which come up can be
promptly addressed.

He called on all stakeholders to join forces with COCOBOD to safeguard the immediate and future welfare of cocoa farmers and create a fair and rewarding environment for all to operate.