The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says it has completed draft legislation on weighing of agricultural produce for consideration by Cabinet.
The management of the GSS is currently fine-tuning the regulation for submission to the GSS board for perusal and onward submission to Cabinet.
Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghanaian Times after the release of the Consumer Price Index and Inflation, said the regulation when passed into law would help create a standardised form of measuring and pricing of agricultural produce to create a fair advantage for both buyers and sellers.
He explained that the law on weighing of agricultural produce would make it mandatory for agricultural produce to be priced based on weight and not according to season, to ensure price stability.
Prof. Annim stressed that there was the need to standardise weights for determining the price of agricultural products.
He said the legislation was to empower sellers across the country to sell their farm produce based on weight.
“What is currently happening in our Ghanaian market now is that sale of agricultural produce are based on seasonalities. So if you want to buy plantain, maize, and tomato, for instance, prices vary significantly depending on the seasons for these commodities,” he said.
The Government Statistician indicated that when the sale of agricultural produce was sold based on weight, the pricing of such produce would be informed by weight and not season.
He observed that seasonalities contributed to the variation of prices of agricultural produce on the market, stressing that agricultural produce in the main crop season was cheap and the same quantity of produce in the lean season was sold at high prices.
According to Prof. Annim the variation of prices was a disincentive to farmers and contributed to high inflation rates.
The Government Statistician said he was hopeful the regulation would be presented to Cabinet by the middle of March this year.
By Kingsley Asare
