FEDCO supports six cocoa-farming communities
The Western Regional Minster, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has urged cocoa-buying companies to extend support to the communities from which they buy their produce.
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According to him, the communities face numerous challenges including bad roads and lack of potable water and health facilities. He said all these could be provided if these companies went a little further to support the communities.
The minister made the recommendation at a ceremony at the Walter Matter SA and FEDCO Sustainability Project site at Samreboi in the Western Region, where farmers were handed their share of premium received from cocoa that was sold during the 2013/2014 crop season. Also on the occasion, some development projects carried out in some of the cocoa- producing communities in which the companies operate were inaugurated.
Although cocoa farmers play an important role along the cocoa value chain in Ghana, most cocoa-buying companies ignore their welfare. Many cocoa-producing communities have been ignored, leading to the lack of basic necessities of life, including potable water, in their communities.
To improve on the situation, a team of consultants from the Federated Commodities (FEDCO), Walter Matter SA and Chocolate Frey in Switzerland, all cocoa-buying companies, visited six districts in the Western Region, namely Wassa Akropong, Manso Amenfi, Asankragwa, Samreboi A&B and Akontonbra last year, to conduct a needs assessment task.
The task entailed identifying the actual needs of the cocoa farmers and to determine ways of addressing some of the demands. Among the needs requiring support that were identified in the report were healthcare institutions, potable water, roads and educational infrastructure.
The Managing Director of FEDCO, Alhaji Abdul Razak Adamu, announced that during the 2013/2014 crop season, the six districts involved in the project produced close to 8,000 metric tonnes of certified cocoa beans.
This year, he said, FEDCO and its partners had set aside an amount of GH¢2,442,000 to support the farmers. He said a sum of GH¢1,042,000 from the amount voted would be used for the purchase and supply of farm inputs for the farmers and the remainder used for the provision of potable water for the communities.
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Alhaji Adamu said a business school for farmers had been set up to build the capacity of farmers in entrepreneurial and managerial skills. This will enable the farmers to learn new skills and improve on their knowledge. The school is also expected to change their attitude to work and enhance their marketing skills.
Mr Paul Evans Aidoo expressed his worry about bad roads in this country, noting that the most seriously defective ones were in cocoa-growing areas. He promised to work to see to it that roads in the cocoa-growing areas in the Western Region were improved.
“The situation where funds meant for the provision of social amenities in poor rural areas were diverted into already developed communities would be a thing of the past,” he said.
He urged cocoa farmers to desist from giving up their cocoa farms for galamsey operations and rather use the land profitably by growing more cocoa. He further encouraged them to make good use of the farming inputs that FEDCO would present to them.
Representatives of Walter Matter SA and Chocolate Frey, who were present at the ceremony, praised cocoa farmers in Ghana for producing the world’s best cocoa beans and encouraged them to keep up the standard.