Farmers Cry Over Cheating

Farmers in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern Region have expressed frustration at market queens and some buyers who usually cheat them. They disclosed that they do not gain any benefits because of the activities of the market queens and buyers, who use various unapproved scales. According to them, the use of different scales by the buyers had gravely affected their income. The Executive Director of the Manful-Piinu Farmers Association, Henry Konlan, who disclosed this to the media, said farmers in the area endure hardship to bring food to the market only to be cheated by the market queens and others. He called on the appropriate authorities to save the poor farmers from further exploitation. A research conducted by the association, he disclosed, showed that farmers over the years had been cheated by these people. Farmers, he revealed, were gradually losing interest in farming, which according to him, was a major threat to food security in the area. He appealed to policymakers to provide farmers with standard measurement tools. He also called on the Ministries of Trade & Industry, Food & Agriculture, Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), the security agencies and corporate institutions to ensure that all farm produce were measured with standard scale to prevent cheating.