Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation

Today I attended a forum at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) entitled "Partnership for Agribusiness: The Case for Investing in Ghana's Ag Sector". Cargill's Ghana Office President, Kojo Amoo-Gottfried was a panelist, along with Her Excellency Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Food and Agriculture. U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Donald Teitelbaum and Jon Vandenheuvel, President of Africa Atlantic Holding also participated.

Kojo explained Cargill's substantial investments in Ghana. Not only does the WCF member company process cocoa in-country, but it also supports farm-level training for thousands of small-scale cocoa farmers in Ghana. Cargill also directly supports the WCF Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 15 other member companies. CLP will reach some 200,000 cocoa farmers over the next few years, with the goal of doubling incomes.