encouraging sustainable, responsible cocoa growing

Entry: Yoshinori Doi, Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd.

It was my great pleasure to have an opportunity to visit Ghana as a representative of Meiji Seika in an especially memorial year, a golden jubilee of Ghana’s independence and 60th anniversary of the Cocoa Board's establishment. I’d visited Ghana several times before, but I’m sure it was the most impressive tour.

I could learn a lot about the whole cocoa supply chain through visiting a farm, some societies, the Licensed Buying Companies, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, the Quality Control Division of Ghana Cocoa Board, warehouses and a ship at Tema port, and Barry Callebaut factory. It was especially exciting to join in a farmer field school session where they checked and argued seriously about cocoa trees. I was totally convinced that it would bring not only the improvement of the yield but also sustainability of cocoa economy in the future. And I’m so proud that our company Meiji is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation that supports these activities.

My sincere thanks to Bill, Tracey and all members of Ghana Cocoa Board for the well organized tour. Fortunately I got a chance to plant a young cocoa tree near the historic Tetteh Quarshie’s cocoa farm. Now I’m looking forward to visiting Ghana again to see my pods in the near future.

Photo: Yoshinori Doi plants a cocoa tree near Tetteh Quarshie's farm.