STORY BY ZAINABU ISSAH
The Development Action Association (DAA) has organised a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on how to encourage rural farmers and traders to use standard weights and measurement scales in buying and selling agricultural produce.
The meeting was also used to conduct a baseline study on the current measurement standards of agricultural produce in Ghana so as to sensitise the general populace to incorporating measuring scales in agricultural trade.
The Programmes Officer of Agric Support and More, Mr Felix Appiah-Ankam, in a presentation on Promoting Standard Weight and Measurement (SWM) in the Sale of Agricultural Produce, said the introduction of weight s and measurements in marketing agricultural produce was a national issue which needed to be addressed with urgency.
He said a number of rural farmers, most of who were women, continued to complain of poverty because they were not given the right amount of money for their produce.
“Tomato farmers for instance during the bumper season do not have a say in the price of their product because the traders know that the tomatoes would get rotten if they are not sold. They therefore decide on how much to give the farmer which usually does not even come close to what the farmers spent in growing the produce,” he said.
Additionally, traders in the urban areas tend to sell the produce from the rural farmers in bags of kilos and measurements, the price of which is sometimes equal to or more than that of the original produce.
He was optimistic the introduction of the SWM would bring an innovation in how marketing was done in various market centres.
Mr Ankam said the SWM had the potential to improve significantly the profit margins of farmers and traders alike while giving consumers value for money.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, a Director at the ministry, Mr Theophilus Osei Bonsu, lauded the promotion of the SWM and said it would encourage value addition, processing, packaging and hygiene among farmers.
He said neighbouring countries like Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, among others, used the SWM and, therefore, called for public-private partnership in promoting the SWM.
Additionally, rural women should be sensitised more to the correct processes in measuring their farm produce so as to make it easier for them to come to a consensus on the measure of a produce before selling it to the traders.
Mr Bonsu, however, called for a public private partnership in promoting SWM which would increase income growth and competition among farmers.
The Founder of DAA, Madam Lydia Sasu, also called on the government to take immediate steps to implement the SWM so that the rural women farmers would also benefit from their agricultural ventures.
She also called on the stakeholders to come together to find the way forward in transforming commerce in Ghana.
The Development Action Association (DAA) has organised a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on how to encourage rural farmers and traders to use standard weights and measurement scales in buying and selling agricultural produce.
The meeting was also used to conduct a baseline study on the current measurement standards of agricultural produce in Ghana so as to sensitise the general populace to incorporating measuring scales in agricultural trade.
The Programmes Officer of Agric Support and More, Mr Felix Appiah-Ankam, in a presentation on Promoting Standard Weight and Measurement (SWM) in the Sale of Agricultural Produce, said the introduction of weight s and measurements in marketing agricultural produce was a national issue which needed to be addressed with urgency.
He said a number of rural farmers, most of who were women, continued to complain of poverty because they were not given the right amount of money for their produce.
“Tomato farmers for instance during the bumper season do not have a say in the price of their product because the traders know that the tomatoes would get rotten if they are not sold. They therefore decide on how much to give the farmer which usually does not even come close to what the farmers spent in growing the produce,” he said.
Additionally, traders in the urban areas tend to sell the produce from the rural farmers in bags of kilos and measurements, the price of which is sometimes equal to or more than that of the original produce.
He was optimistic the introduction of the SWM would bring an innovation in how marketing was done in various market centres.
Mr Ankam said the SWM had the potential to improve significantly the profit margins of farmers and traders alike while giving consumers value for money.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, a Director at the ministry, Mr Theophilus Osei Bonsu, lauded the promotion of the SWM and said it would encourage value addition, processing, packaging and hygiene among farmers.
He said neighbouring countries like Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, among others, used the SWM and, therefore, called for public-private partnership in promoting the SWM.
Additionally, rural women should be sensitised more to the correct processes in measuring their farm produce so as to make it easier for them to come to a consensus on the measure of a produce before selling it to the traders.
Mr Bonsu, however, called for a public private partnership in promoting SWM which would increase income growth and competition among farmers.
The Founder of DAA, Madam Lydia Sasu, also called on the government to take immediate steps to implement the SWM so that the rural women farmers would also benefit from their agricultural ventures.
She also called on the stakeholders to come together to find the way forward in transforming commerce in Ghana.
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