Kuapa Kokoo bemoans high interest rates

Emmanuel Arthur, Managing Director of Kuapa Kokoo Limited, says all the profit his outfit made in the 2011/2012 financial year was used to service bank loans due to the high interest rates.

Speaking at 19th annual delegates’ conference of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union (KKFU) in Kumasi recently, he said the profit level of the organization would make it difficult to adequately address the needs of the members.

Even though Kuapa Kokoo could not attain its profit target due to high interest rates, it was lauded for making giant strides in the 2012/2013 season.

Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, a UK-based manufacturing firm, commended Kuapa Kokoo for delivering more than 40,000 tonnes of quality cocoa, describing the company as the biggest cocoa farmers’ organization in the Fair-trade system.

The elated farmers, mostly women, converged on the Law Faculty auditorium of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in their Kuapa Kokoo attire for the conference.

“With the Fairtrade premiums, you have delivered numerous community projects like boreholes, toilet facilities, mobile health clinics and credit for your members through your credit union,” Tranchell told the delegates amidst applause.

She further commended Kuapa Kokoo for building seven schools for cocoa farming communities, offering training to farmers to improve their cocoa and setting up a system to deal with child labour.

Kuapa Kokoo, she said, owns chocolate companies in the UK and USA with presence in 12 countries around the world.

Ms. Tranchell told the delegates that her outfit made marginal profit last year.

She said two women, Agnes Armah and Elias Mohammed, who represented Kuapa Kokoo as great ambassadors, travelled across Britain to illustrate the benefits of belonging to a cooperative.

Ali Fatima, president KKFU, in her speech, appealed to the members to renew their commitment to the organization by offering their cocoa to the Kuapa Kokoo Limited.

She said the Union’s gender programme was working with 76 registered women from 39 groups in 12 districts in five regions of Ghana where Kuapa Kokoo operates.

“The programme has so far disbursed loans to 358 women from 16 societies to support their income generating activities. 70 women have also been trained in leadership, financial management and soap making,” she said.