The Builsa South Agriculture Director in the Upper East region, has admitted there was no written contract between rice farmers and Farmerline company for the purchase of their produce.
Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Joshua Dieudonne said the agriculture technology firm extended a helping hand to reduce the losses of the farmers, hence it cannot be accused of contract breach.
The farmers in the past weeks have expressed worry over several bags of harvested rice going waste because there are no buyers.
Wading into the plight of the farmers, Builsa South MP, Dr Clement Apaak noted his interactions with the farmers have revealed there was an agreement with Farmerline.
“Chief and other rice farmers informed me that they had an agreement with a company called Farmerline to buy their rice when harvested” he stated.
As part of the agreement, Farmerline supplied the farmers with branded sacks and requested that they produce and supply specific quantities of rice with a prescribed moisture content.
Unfortunately, Farmerline has since failed to take delivery of the rice.
But Mr Dieudonne has said that is not the case and has urged the farmers to exercise restraint.
“The issue of contract is a major problem in this case because there was no written agreement. It was just verbal and the hope was that they will buy all the rice but Farmerline had issues and bought 25,000 bags out of the agreed 30,000 bags.
The farmers were engaged with the development communicated to them and even encouraged to sell off to interested buyers. So we are not in the position now to say whether they have breached a contract with the farmers,” he said.
According to him, Farmerline has pledged its commitment to adequately support the farmers and purchase more rice when necessary.
“Despite the assurance from the company, the farmers have raised concerns that the status of the rice has changed and the value may have depreciated,” he added.
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