Entry: Bill Guyton and Tracey Duffey, World Cocoa Foundation

Today we were invited by the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, DC and the Let’s Go Africa Foundation to speak at an educational forum on Africa’s natural resources. Over 300 high school and middle school students participated from the Metropolitan Area of Washington, DC. Unfortunately, we had some technical challenges showing a video on cocoa farming. As a result, we spent most of our time answering questions about cocoa farming and marketing.

Some were surprised that the chocolate companies do not own farms, but rather that cocoa is primarily farmed by over two million independent family farms in West Africa. A representative from the Embassy of Ghana explained how the Ghana Cocoa Board has played a central role in supporting cocoa growing communities by financing community hospitals, scholarships, and technical training for farmers. The World Cocoa Foundation also plays a key role with African governments and local communities by funding “farmer field schools” that help to raise incomes and help grow the crop in a more socially responsible and environmentally sound manner.

Another student asked what policies can be put in place to make sure that natural resources extracted from Africa are more evenly and equitably distributed. We believe that there is a role of industries and governments to work in partnership to improve rural economies. There are models where this works successfully in cocoa and the other industries mentioned during the forum.

After the morning discussions, the students had a chance to talk individually with us on sustainable cocoa, and then were treated to a traditional African drumming and dance performance.

The closing ceremony included awards presented to the winners of a quiz on natural resources in Africa. We were proud to have three students tie for first place. Here is a photo of Kwasi Bosompem and his colleague Margaret Udahogora from the Let's Go Africa Foundation presenting a prize to one of the top-scoring students.

We commend the Embassy of Ghana and the Let’s Go Africa Foundation for inviting us to attend this forum. We hope it will become an annual event.