Farmer field school dampens child labour in cocoa production

Low technical knowledge and access to credit for farm expansion are major challenges to higher cocoa production in Ghana, acknowledged Godwin Affoh, a farmer in the Assin North District of the Central region.

According to him, the low acreage, resulting from poor farming practices, affects farmers’ standard of living, with the temptation to use their children as farm hands.

“If we increase our productivity, we’ll also have the opportunity to put our children in school, so that in the long run we can eliminate child labour in cocoa production,” he stated.

The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), in partnership with other institutions, has been targeting farmers like Godwin with activities to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in cocoa production.

After a decade of interventions in cocoa producing communities, the Initiative is now focusing on empowering cocoa farmers to employ adult labourers on their farms, through community action plans and farmer field schools.

“The cocoa farmer field school is going to help the farmers improve their yield and when their yield is improved, they’re going to get more income and it’s expected that they use the income to hire more adult labourers so that they’ll not use the children on the cocoa farms,” said Prince Gyamfi, Programme Associate with ICI.

The farmer field school involves training in good agronomic practices and good business practices – including record keeping and financial management.

Farmers are also schooled on the effects of using children in cocoa farms instead of studying in school as well as organizing themselves in groups to access financial facility.

“We have learnt a lot about cocoa production, like how to increase our productivity through application of fertilizer and rational use of chemicals that will boost our productivity,” stated Godwin.

 

Training Consultant, Efo Sylvanus Agordorku, also observed “farmers are now planting hybrid seeds from the seed gardens and applying the recommended rates of fertilizer. People are also looking at planting trees in their cocoa farms to provide temporal and permanent shades for the cocoa seedlings that they are planting.”

The farmer field school trained 73 cocoa farmers and extension agents in 2013 – they in turn trained an additional 1,745 farmers to apply the skills and knowledge on their cocoa farms.

The ICI is targeting 65 additional farmers in 2014.

Prince Gyamfi is excited at Ghana’s current favourable image among Western cocoa consumer countries in accessing traceable cocoa from the country.

He however believes access to schools in every cocoa growing community would encourage farmers to place their wards in school and not engage them on farms.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Kuapa Kokoo launches 20th anniversary committing to child labour combat

Ghanaian farmer-based organisation, Kuapa Kokoo Limited, has launched its 20^th anniversary with a renewed commitment to lead in efforts at combating child labour in cocoa growing communities.

The Child Labour Department of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union (KKFU) aims to stop children from engaging in harzadous work in cocoa growing communities, through advocacy, education and sensitisation programmes at the community level.

“It is through these relentless efforts of Kuapa Kokoo to combat child labour that they gained international recognition from ILO, a world body fighting unconventional labour issues globally. The ILO has partnered Kuapa since 2010 in its fight against child labour,” stated Managing Director, Emmanuel Arthur.

Kuapa Kokoo Limited was formed in August 1993 as a result of a government policy to liberalize the cocoa sector in Ghana.

According to Mr. Arthur, the founding fathers had a mission “to develop Kuapa Kokoo into a formidable farmer-based organization, able to mobilize quality cocoa and cocoa products (from its members), improve the members’ livelihood and satisfy our customers”.

He says this has become a reality and the organization is “still doing even more” as one of the best cocoa buying company in the country.

Kuapa Kokoo is reckoned as the biggest cocoa farmers’ cooperative organization in Ghana with over 85,000 members spread across the Ashanti, Western, Central, Eastern and the Brong-Ahafo regions. Kuapa is also the pioneering Fairtrade farmer based organization in Africa and members pride themselves as owning a chocolate company – Divine Chocolate – in the UK and the USA.

“The farmers of Kuapa Kokoo are very delighted to be the proud owners of their own cocoa buying company. The reasons being that they have access to markets that are willing and ready to purchase their produce,” stated Mr Arthur.

The organisation has been divided into three structures, working in harmony to bring Kuapa Kokoo to its current state of success. These include the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKFU) – in charge of the farmers’ welfare; Kuapa Kokoo Credit Union (KKCU) – handles the monetary aspect of the farmers by providing them with loans; and Kuapa Kokoo Limited (KKL) – which buys the cocoa from the farmers and sells them to foreign partners.

President of the KKFU, Madam Fatima Ali announced that “over the years, Fairtrade premiums have been used to fund projects such as building of schools, construction of boreholes, employing extension officers, providing medical care for members, machetes for farmers and offering skill trainings to female farmers”.

A year-long activity has been planned to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of Kuapa Kokoo on the theme: “Twenty years of empowering smallholder cocoa farmers: Kuapa’s Unique Achievements”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh