Entry: Holly Houston, World Cocoa Foundation

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana to meet with several of our partners in the Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP). During the first part of the trip, I traveled to the Ashanti region with the CLP Program Director, Mbalo Ndiaye and several agricultural researchers from the University of Arkansas who are working on a CLP study of environmental impact of improved cocoa production. We visited the CLP community of Amomorso, in the newly formed Bosome-Freho District, where about 95% of the working population is comprised of cocoa farmers.

Following a well-worn footpath into the cocoa farm, we were able to observe a farmer training school that meets once every 2 weeks in a clearing of the farm from March to December. The group of about 40 farmers had studied three different tree plots on the farm and created posters of their findings, including moisture of the soil, number of healthy versus diseased pods, distance between trees, and insects in the area. Each group chose a representative to present their findings to the larger group and a question and answer period followed. The discussion was led by a local facilitator who was chosen from the community to be trained by CLP-partner the Sustainable Tree Crops Program. The facilitator takes instruction and knowledge back to his or her community.

During the group session, the facilitator asked the farmers what they had learned from comparing higher-producing trees with lower-producing ones, and farmers were eager to share their opinions and own experiences. A noteworthy observation was the level of participation by women cocoa farmers who made up about 40% of the group and were some of the most vocal.

Our group posed several questions to the farmers including how many had purchased fertilizer and/or fungicide in the past year – only a handful raised their hands. Also, we passed a newly-constructed local bank in the neighboring community and asked if any were participating in banking services. A few members stated they had been approached to start a savings account – a few had expressed interest. To move beyond core production training skills, the Cocoa Livelihoods Program will work to train these farmers in business skills to view and manage their farms as a business – including keeping records, analyzing the costs and benefits of inputs, establishing a need for use of banking services, and improving access to credit.

We look forward to working with communities like Amomorso and seeing the impact of improving livelihoods of cocoa farmers across Ghana and other CLP countries.