Smugglers Now Buy Wet Cocoa Beans

Cocoa smugglers, mostly aliens operating in the of the Volta Region, have resorted to buying wet cocoa beans in addition to dry beans on cocoa farms.

A survey by the GNA in cocoa producing areas of Dodo, Mempeasem, Dzindzi, Menusu, Pampawie in the Kadjebi District and Kate, Akjpafa, Braka in the Jasikan District found that the smugglers buy a tin of wet cocoa for

?12,000 and size 34-bucketful at ?50,000.

A farmer told the GNA that the smugglers entice farmers with attractive bargains. They are not concerned with quality, as any beans are bought at the same price and the farmers see it as the easiest way of selling their produce.

He said while dried cocoa sells at ?387,000 a bag in Ghana the smugglers pay as much as ?540,000 per bag and use the proceeds from the sale of the smuggled cocoa to buy goods from Togo.

Available statistics indicate that the Produce Buying Company (PBC) bought about 34,000 bags of cocoa during the 1999-2000 cocoa-season from the Volta Region; however, it bought only about 17,000 bags in the 2001-2002 season. Mr Kwesi Bediako-Addey, Volta Regional Manager of PBC, said executives of cocoa societies in the region were being educated on the socio -economic effects of smuggling.