300 cocoa farmers receive premium bonuses

About 300 cocoa farmers from the Ahafo Ano North and South districts of the Ashanti Region have received GH?322,560 as certification premium bonuses for 1,400 metric tonnes of exportable certified beans sold to Noble Resources.

The farmers, being part of the Ahafo Ano North and South UTZ Cocoa Farmers Association (AHANSUCOFA), were said to have undergone various UTZ trainings through Solidaridad, a non-governmental organisation that has been collaborating with stakeholders in the cocoa industry to implement cocoa sustainable programmnes.

Mr. Isaac Gyamfi, Managing Director, Solidaridad West Africa, in an interview at Mankranso, clarified that ‘cocoa certification is not a panacea for solving every problem in cocoa cultivation’.

“Certification is seen as one of the tools that can help farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices, because the standards define certain sets of norms and conducts that farmers need to adopt. And certification is just one,” he explained.

He however pointed out global companies which buy cocoa have opted for certification and made public declarations in statements that they will only source sustainably certified cocoa.

Each of the farmers received a cash premium of GH?3.00 per bag, a certificate and Wellington boots as part of the reward for their hard work and commintment to adopting to sustainable cocoa production practices. Members of AHANSUCOFA in each project community were also given one motorised mist-blower.

Noble Resources which bought the 1,400 metric tonnes of beans through Federated Commodities, a licenced cocoa buying company, is said to have funded training of the farmers on cocoa certification as a tool to promote sustainability and improved livelihoods for farmers.

“Solidaridad West Africa initiated AHANSUCOFA in 2009 as a pilot project of its Cocoa Improvement Programme with support from the Dutch Sustianable Trade Initiative looking at how a farmer association can be a certificate-holder of the UTZ Certification code of conduct.”

The project is said to have started with about 300 farmers in 10 communities in Ahafo Ano North and South. Presently, AHANSUCOFA is said to have a total membership of 5,002 in 155 communities of the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions.

Cocoa production has been observed to be improving siginificantly over the last three years, as a result of rigurous training of farmers in good agricultural practices. Solidaridad, noted to be in the forefront of cocoa certfication globally and particularly in West Africa, is said be engaged in developing new initiatives that provide additional services to certification for cocoa farmers to sustain the increases currently being recorded in the country’s cocoa production.