We paid GHS121m to PBC; COCOBOD refutes CSS claim

The Ghana Cocoa Board has denied claims by the Center for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS) that it has failed to pay farmers for their produce.

The CSS said in a statement Tuesday that COCOBOD has either refused, neglected or failed to allocate funds to the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs), especially Produce Buying Company (PBC) as mandated for cocoa purchases.

“We categorically deny any such claims as wholly untrue and therefore cannot be one that was arrived through a meticulous investigation,” COCOBOD stated in a release Wednesday.

COCOBOD said PBC received an amount of GHS121million for payment of cocoa delivered within October and November this year. It also said some LBCs have not paid farmers because of their own internal challenges.

Read full statement

RE: COCOBOD STARVING COCOA FARMERS AND LBCs OF CASH – CSS AGRIC DESK

The attention of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has been drawn to a supposed research conducted by a group known as the Center for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS) which has received wide media publication.

The said report indicates that, through several calls from the cocoa farmers and further investigations by the CSS, it was revealed that COCOBOD has either refused, neglected or failed to allocate funds to the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs), especially, Produce Buying Company (PBC) as mandated for cocoa purchases.

We wish to state the following:

COCOBOD wishes to assure all farmers that it has performed its responsibility as expected by releasing funds to all the LBCs including PBC and therefore any problem encountered is not from COCOBOD but regardless we shall facilitate to ensure that they are paid.

ISSUED BY PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

 

Read Full Story