Female farmer heads Kuapa Kooko for second term
Kuapa Kooko Farmers Union (KKFU), an association of 80,000 farmers, has re-elected Ms Fatima Ali as President, to head the organisation for the next four years.
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Born in 1981, Ms Ali, who started farming on a small land, is now a proud owner of a 12-acre farm at Sefwi Akontombra in the Western Region. She became a member of KKFU in the year 2000 and was first elected president of the organisation four years ago.
Delivering her maiden address at the organisation’s annual general meeting in Kumasi, which also marked the 20th anniversary of the formation of the union, Ms Ali announced that Kuapa Kooko had embarked on various programmes to build the capacity of women to engage in other income-generating ventures, in addition to their traditional cocoa farming activities.
She mentioned that the programmes included assisting the women to source for and manage credit funds and undertake adult literacy programmes.
Gender Committee
Speaking Twi at the programme, she told the 2,200 delegates that in line with the union’s ongoing women empowerment programme, delegates at last year’s annual general meeting voted to establish Gender Sub-Committees in all districts.
She said the sub-committees would raise awareness of the need for gender equality and the empowerment of women within and across the various districts.
She said her decision to go into farming and choosing to join KKFU had turned to be a very good decision for her, explaining that “never in my wildest dreams did I think of holding such a position”.
Ambassadors
The Managing Director of Divine Chocolate Limited, Ms Sophi Tranchell, announced that two women farmers from Kuapa Kooko, Madam Esther Ephraim and Madam Mary Appiah, were made ambassadors of Kuapa Kooko and offered the opportunity to travel the length and breadths of Britain as part of the benefits for belonging to the co-operative organisation.
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Ms Tranchell said the success story of Kuapa Kooko was a vision which had shown that given a fairer opportunity, smallholder farmers could direct and improve their own lives and communities and be stewards of a sustained cocoa farming business.