CHEATING LBCs TO BE SANCTIONED (PAGE 47)

LICENSED buying companies (LBCs) which fail to comply with the directive to pay full bonuses to cocoa farmers will be sanctioned and prosecuted, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Mr Isaac Osei, has warned.
He said any LBC that would cheat cocoa farmers of their due bonuses would be banned from dealing with the COCOBOD, while their management and staff would also be banned from working or dealing with any agencies of the COCOBOD.
“Besides, heavy financial penalty will also be imposed on any LBC that will break the law and it will be banned from operating in areas where it cheats the vulnerable farmers,” Mr Osei stated.
The chief executive’s warning followed a complaint by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, that some LBCs in the region were not paying cocoa farmers their due bonuses.
That, Mr Affram Asiedu said, came to light during the People’s Assembly in the Akyemmansa and New Abirem districts, where some cocoa farmers complained of being cheated by some LBCs in their communities.
Mr Osei said as of July 1, this year, COCOBOD had released about GH¢16,035,161.35 to the various LBCs across the country, except Sunshine Commodities Limited.
As part of efforts to motivate cocoa farmers to give their best, he said for the first time in the history of the country the government had decided to double the bonus being paid them.
He, therefore, warned that any LBCs that would be found to be paying lower bonuses to cocoa farmers would be made to face the full rigours of the law, besides being banned from dealing with the COCOBOD.
The chief executive also cautioned LBCs against the practice of purchasing inferior cocoa beans, particularly from other neighbouring countries, and mixing them with the locally produced ones.
He noted that such negative acts had, in the past, dented the image of the country on the international market, a situation that led to low prices and sometimes the rejection of large tonnes of cocoa beans.
“Not only should we desist from such untoward act but we must also refrain from adjusting our weighing scales, to the detriment of the poor hard- working farmer,” he cautioned.
Mr Osei, who bemoaned the use of child labour in cocoa production, advised farmers to desist from practices that tended to deny children access to education to secure their future.
He also asked them to refrain from the use of unapproved and banned chemicals and fertilisers to enhance the prices of cocoa beans on the international market.
“Besides our hard work, we should also complement the efforts of the government to halt the smuggling of cocoa beans across the borders to enable us to enjoy the fruits of our labour,” the chief executive told the farmers.
Mr Osei said as part of efforts to provide incentives for cocoa farmers, COCOBOD, in partnership with the government, had earmarked $100 million to undertake a housing scheme in the Western and the Central regions, as well as other cocoa-growing areas.
Under the scheme, he said, a number of three-bedroom houses would be put up and given out to farmers to be paid for over a 10-year period.
He said the government was also constructing about 650 kilometres of feeder roads in most cocoa-growing areas to ensure easy access to those areas.
Mr Affram Asiedu appealed to COCOBOD to conduct investigations into allegations that some LBCs in the region were paying farmers lower bonuses.
During an open forum, a number of district chief farmers appealed to the government to halt the activities of illegal chain-saw operators to ensure increased cocoa production in the country.