Foundation supports Cocoa Abrabopa to expand pension scheme
As part of educational programme for its cocoa farmers in the country, Cocoa Abrabopa, with support from Foundation Sucres et Denrées, a French company in commodity supply chains, has organised a financial literacy training for Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CCA) farmers.
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The training programme, known as Gender Inclusion and Financial Literacy, was to equip the farmers with financial literacy skills to be applied in their farming activity.
The farmers were taken through records keeping of financial transactions to help them to access support from the financial institutions, Respectful Relationship, Family Vision for the Future, Managing Your Money, Supporting Your Partners Work and Planning for the Future.
Objective
Speaking at the training, the Council Chairman of the CAA, Ismaila Pomasi, said though cocoa farming continued to be a pivotal economic activity in Ghana and contributed significantly to the country's foreign exchange earnings, “the majority of cocoa farmers in Ghana have limited access to financial literacy programmes.”
He said the lack of financial knowledge and training had prevented them from effectively participating in the formal financial system and affected their saving culture.
He explained that even though some of the farmers have been in the business for decades, “they do not even have bank accounts.
Even those who have opened savings accounts sometimes have those accounts rendered inactive by the banks due to the limited number of transactions or usage”.
Interest rates
Pomasi indicated that farmers earned their incomes during two main cocoa seasons, but the majority of them did not save enough money to meet their future financial needs due to low incomes and poor financial management.
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He said during the period between farm management and harvesting, most of these farmers resorted to borrowing to cover their expenses and then repay at exorbitant interest rates, which further exacerbated their poor financial situation.
The Operational Manager and Chief Finance Officer for the CAA, Patrick John Van Brakel explained that the training was to improve the farmers’ financial literacy and management skills, as well as their level of contributions to the savings.
Focus
The Cocoa Abrabopa Pension Scheme Manager & Human Resource Officer at the CAA, Sarah Evelyn Naa Du Abblew, explained that the programme focused on gender equality and how men and women can work together as supportive and respectful partners to promote a more successful and profitable household.
“We are providing them with a piggy bank; the idea is to make room for households to save towards contributing to their CAPS in order to motivate women and their households to save,” she added.