Tepa, (Ash), Nov. 6, GNA - Nana Oppong Fordjour, the Ahafo-Ano North District Chief farmer, has advised cocoa farmers to accept only cheques for the purchase of cocoa sold to Buying Companies and not physical cash.

He said this was important since cheques would help minimize any fraud and stealing in the cocoa industry. Nana Fordjour gave the advice at a forum with cocoa farmers in the district held at Tepa last Thursday.

The meeting was to create an avenue for the discussing of strategies to produce quality cocoa beans in the District. He entreated farmers to always ensure that cocoa beans are fermented for a period of seven days to avoid the production of purple beans, which are unacceptable on the international market. Nana Fordjour said it was an offence for any body to use hanging scales to weigh cocoa beans, and therefore asked farmers to resist such attempts and report such cases to the nearest police station. The farmers were of the view that some purchasing clerks adjust their weighing scales in order to cheat them, and therefore appealed to the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) to intervene and check such acts.