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 20th anniversary of Kuapa Kokoo on the theme: “Twenty years of
empowering smallholder cocoa farmers: Kuapa’s Unique Achievements”.
Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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