The Management of Federated Commodities Limited on Thursday said it has paid for every bag of cocoa delivered at all its depots and does not owe any farmer.
In a statement signed by Mr. Andrew Agyekum, Administrative Manager, the company said it had transferred enough money to all its bankers in the operational areas.
“Every farmer from whom cocoa has been bought so far this season has been issued the equivalent Akuafo cheque.
“If regrettably any farmer has not been able to cash his cheque this would not be due to lack of funds from our end but most probably to some administrative bottlenecks in our banking system.”
The statement said no such report had been made to it. “Federated Commodities Ltd. assures COCOBOD that it will continue to strive to complement its efforts in ensuring the well-being of the farmer as a primary condition to improving the cocoa industry,” it said.
The Ghana Cocoa Board a week ago expressed concern about reports that Licensed Buying Companies (LBC) were unable to pay for cocoa bought from farmers and appealed to all such companies which owed farmers to pay them immediately to avoid “any unpleasant sanctions”.
A statement signed by Mr. Kwame Sarpong, Chief Executive, said sufficient funds had been released to all LBCs currently in the field to pay for cocoa bought.
It identified nine companies, which had been given money to pay for cocoa bought, as Produce Buying Company Ltd., Federated Commodity Ltd, Kuapa Kooko, Cocoa Merchants Ltd., Transroyal (Ghana) Limited, Adwumapa Buyers Ltd., Royal Commodities Ltd., Akuafo Adamfo Marketing Company Ltd. and Bowohoso Limited.
COCOBOD said it was surprising that cocoa farmers were complaining about the non-payment for purchase during this major cocoa season.
It said a recent visit to the field by its officials revealed that one of the LBCs was heavily indebted to the farmers for cocoa purchased. “The Board finds this sad situation unacceptable since it is causing a lot of concern and anxiety to the government and untold hardship to the farmers.”
There had been persistent reports for the past several weeks from the buying centres of the inability of the LBCs to pay for cocoa.
Source: GhanaWeb
