Asante Akim South to fight cocoa smuggling

The Asante Akim South District Assembly is to roll out a programme to monitor activities of cocoa purchasing companies without depots in the district as the new cocoa season approaches.

The move is to check the transportation of cocoa purchased in the district to adjoining districts which eventually affects the annual tonnage of cocoa produced in the district.

The District Chief Executive, Mr. De-graft Forkuo, said this at a meeting of District Officers of cocoa purchasing companies in the District at Juaso on Wednesday.

Mr. Forkuo said the practice was rife in the district and warned perpetrators to desist from it since it was in contravention of the bye-laws governing the cocoa purchasing business.

He said the annual tonnage of cocoa produced in the district formed part of the criteria for the rehabilitation of cocoa roads by COCOBOD.

Mr Forkuo told them to impress upon their purchasing clerks to refrain from adjusting their weighing scales to the disadvantage of farmers, saying culprits would be prosecuted if detected.

Source: GNA