Weinco sends 6 cocoa farmers to Ghana

Weinco Liberia Limited, an agriculture company, said it has finalized an agreement to send at least six Liberian cocoa farmers to Ghana for a weeklong training on the cocoa sector.

Mr. Samuel Odoru Asare, Weinco Liberia Country Director, who made the disclosure at a press conference in Monrovia, said the six farmers will leave the country today, November 4.

He said the farmers are going to Ghana to experience how Ghanaian cocoa farmers are successfully planting and operating their farms.

While in Ghana, the six farmers, all males, will also visit various agricultural sites to obtain information on Ghana’s agriculture sector so that upon their return, they would be in the position to improve Liberia’s agriculture sector.

The trip is fully sponsored by the company to boost cocoa production in Liberia and because the farmers have shown “great interest and hard work to carry on maximum production,” said Asare.

He said as part of his company’s effort to improve cocoa production in Liberia, “We give farmers fertilizers, fungicides, and insecticides. We also provide them with financial assistance. We are working along with them to improve the growth of cocoa in Liberia.

“This is the only company in Liberia that is providing free extension and technical training as well as agro import credit to farmers. What we need now is support to take the sector to another level.”

Asare said that the company has spent US$3 million in four years on improving cocoa production in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa Counties, with extension to Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties.

“We have trained more than 15 farmers and have a total of 1,500 persons who have benefited from training projects since the company was established in 2011,”added Asare.

Mr. Erastus Borkuah, a cocoa farmer from Nimba County, who represented his fellow farmers, applauded Weinco for restoring hope to cocoa farmers in Liberia through training, technical and financial supports.