Cocoa purchases where huge sums of money is carried from one point to the other and directly paid to farmers would soon be a thing of the past.
The country has now introduced an electronic payment platform to replace such services.
Christened “Cocoa Sika Payment Platform”, the initiative seeks to address losses, especially, robbery cases, associated with the physical cash payment system and facilitate prompt payment of monies directly to farmers for beans purchased.
Two telecommunications firms, MTN and Vodafone, have been mandated by the Bank of Ghana to provide the electronic service.
The new platform, Kasapafmonline.com learnt, is a bait to get the unbanked farmers on to the formal financial sector where they would be able to access loans and other services to grow their business.
Chief Manager at the Bank of Ghana, Gladys Awuku, commenting on the product in Accra said the electronic mode of payment of cocoa purchases will ensure security and eliminate waste and leakages in transactions.
That notwithstanding, she said the system will ensure prompt payment of cocoa purchases across the country.
The timelines and redeeming points for the electronic service were immediately not known.
However, inside sources familiar with the new product said piloting of the electronic service would be done this year during the cocoa crop season.
By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
