Entry: Virginia Sopyla, World Cocoa Foundation

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to accompany two Liberian Cocoa Borlaug Fellows on an educational tour of Ghana. Musu Flomo is an alumna of the program who is now working with the World Cocoa Foundation to develop training materials for Liberian farmers on quality, the supply chain and sensory analysis through funding from ACDI/VOCA’s Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises (LIFE) Project in Liberia. Michael Titoe, a newly-selected fellow, works for the Liberian Ministry of Agriculture where he chairs the Cocoa Sub-Sector Working Group and is working on developing policy for Liberia’s cocoa sector. Also joining us was Michael Wilcox, a professor at the University of Tennessee who served as Musu’s mentor during her fellowship and is continuing to advise her on her new assignment.

Musu Flomo (right) discusses drying methods with farmers in Tweapeasie.

Developing the cocoa sector has become a priority for Liberia as a part of its larger agricultural development strategy. Currently, production is low compared to other countries in the region – approximately 7,000 metric tons – and most of the cocoa produced is of poor quality. Increasing yields and improving quality will require action at both the farm and policy levels. Because Ghana is well-known for producing quality cocoa, we felt that a study tour of Ghana could help these two fellows to generate ideas for developing the sector in Liberia.

Thanks to the generous support of the Ghana Cocoa Board and our member companies, we learned about Ghana’s quality control system from the farm level through the point of export. Our tour began at the Ghana Cocoa Board headquarters where we learned about the Board’s structure and role in the cocoa sector. Next, we traveled to Takoradi, the main cocoa port, where we observed quality control in practice – sampling of bags being delivered to the port and prepared for shipment, residue testing, and storage of beans prior to shipment.

We visited the cocoa-growing community of Tweapeasie in the southern part of the Ashanti Region where we learned about farmers’ post-harvest practices to maintain quality. The community is participating in the Sustainable Tree Crops Program and completed farmer field school training last year. They showed us their community nursery where they are producing cocoa and shade-tree seedlings, as well as a demonstration plot where they are learning about intercropping newly-planted cocoa with food crops such as cassava and plantain. Farmer access to planting material is a major issue in Liberia, and it was interesting to see how this group of farmers was using material from the Cocoa Board’s Seed Production Unit to develop their own nursery.

Through visits to depots operated by World Cocoa Foundation member companies Armajaro Ghana Ltd. and Olam Ghana Ltd, we learned about the operations of licensed buying companies – how they purchase cocoa, manage warehouses, and check for quality. Next, we visited WCF-member companies Barry Callebaut and Cargill, both of which are operating processing facilities in Ghana. There we toured the facilities and learned about the process of transforming cocoa beans into semi-finished products, such as cocoa liquor, cocoa powder and cocoa butter, which are used in the manufacture of chocolate products.

Our last stop was the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana where we learned about its history and achievements in cocoa research and toured the facilities. We also had the opportunity to meet with the recipients of WCF Challenge Grant funds and meet with the two Cocoa Borlaug Fellows from Ghana who completed their fellowships in 2008 and 2009.

Both Musu and Michael returned to Liberia with a better understanding of the requirements for a successful quality control system, an appreciation for the importance of reinvesting in the cocoa sector, and numerous ideas for developing the sector in Liberia.

Funding for the participation of Musu Flomo and Michael Wilcox was provided by ACDI/VOCA through the LIFE Project, while funding for the participation of Michael Titoe was provided by the Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program Global Cocoa Initiative.