Electronic payment for cocoa beans in the offing

The Cocoa Sika Payment System, an electronic payment of cocoa beans which was launched last year could be implemented any moment from now.

This comes after the Finance Ministry okayed the move at a meeting with Ghana Cocobod.

The move is expected to help reduce robbery cases among farmers who carry large sums of monies, improve administrative and accounting keeping of records as well as enhance the profitability of the farmers.

The Progressive Licensed Cocoa Buyers (PLCBA) says the move will also reduce the huge number of job losses in the sector.

It is, therefore, expecting all farmers to make themselves available when registration opens.

The cocoa sika payment will also help the PLCBA to secure bank guarantees to enable their members to get seed fund allocation from Cocobod.

President of PLBCA, Samuel Anane, said his outfit is ready to improve the livelihood of farmers in cocoa growing areas.

The innovative Cocoa Sika Payment system would be operated mainly by two telecommunication giants, Vodafone and MTN.

The Cocoa Sika Payment Platform seeks to eliminate physical movement of huge sums of money to farmer gates and ensure a cashless system that will eradicate losses associated with the physical cash payment system.

Despite the unfavorable outlook for cocoa production, Cocobod has forecasted between 850,000 - 900,000 tonnes of cocoa during the 2015/2016 season.

Ghana missed its 2014/2015 cocoa production target despite its revision.