Entry: Mbalo Ndiaye, World Cocoa Foundation
As the Director of the World Cocoa Foundation Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP), I was very excited to invite farmers from different communities we serve to participate on a farmer panel during the 6th CLP Steering Committee Meeting last week in Accra, Ghana. For the first time, farmers with various experiences with the program were given the opportunity to interact directly with members of the Steering Committee and testify on the benefits and perceptions they have vis-à-vis the services provided by the WCF CLP.
Joseph Akyemfo, a 40-year old cocoa farmer and Emmanuel Yaw Kwaakye, 54 years old, both from the Eastern Region of Ghana, and Stephen Y. Ahenkorah from the Western Region exposed their perceptions of the program and the impacts it generated on their individual life and that of their respective families and communities. Unlike Joseph and Emmanuel who received training and input services from the program, Stephen has not yet joined the program. But he came to voice out his community’s petition to participate in the program as they witnessed drastic increases in productivity from their neighboring 30 farmers who attended production and business trainings. Joseph, who received both sets of trainings and inputs, reached for the first time, since taking over cocoa production from his mother’s 3 acre farm, a record production of 30 bags from an average of 8 bags during previous seasons. As a result of this, he was able to pay all school fees for his children. In addition, Joseph has gained training capacity for his peers who call him “Extension Officer” for his voluntary assistance he regularly provides to second recipient farmers. The change on Emmanuel’s life is certainly the most significant among the group as after 14 years of cocoa farming, it is only this year, with the production and business skills training he received, he was able to double his production on the same land and hopes to reach 35 bags by the end of season.
These experiences portrayed by the farmers, spoke in a way that was much more impactful than the monitoring reports we typically issue and which in many cases describe our perceptions and conclusions. I look forward to expending this dialogue with farmers through focus group discussions during impact surveys.
