Skip to main content

Cocoa Farmers in Ghana

Image
By

On my recent trip to Ghana, I visited two cocoa farming communities who are part of Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative set up and owned by cocoa farmers. It provides the cocoa used to make Divine Chocolate, which you may well have enjoyed.

Kuapa Kokoo started in 1993 with 5 farmers but is now a huge enterprise with 87,907 farmers based in 1,241 villages in Ghana.  They appeared well-organised and well-motivated to maintain fair trade principles with a Farmers’ Trust of elected members from all areas, who decide how the fair trade premium should be spent.  Amongst other projects, they have built schools, health clinics and business development centres.  The premium is also used to run a Credit Union, which has helped women to diversify by selling handicrafts, mainly tie-dye and batik fabrics, to supplement their income from cocoa farming.  This had helped one of the women we met in a remote village to pay for her daughter to go to a nurse training college. 


Kuapa Kokoo works hard to prevent child labour.  It has a community taskforce who report any signs of children working and if they are found, then Kuapa Kokoo will not buy cocoa from the farmer involved, until they have been through a re-training procedure and found to change their practice.  

Instead, education for children is promoted, although children may visit the farms in order to learn the skills of cocoa farming.  Esther was an articulate woman working for Kuapa Kokoo, who acted as our guide and interpreter on our visits and she told us that she is the daughter of a cocoa farmer and that fair trade paid for her education.  The message that the cocoa farmers wanted to give us is that fair trade gives them dignity, and by promoting it, we show them that we care about their poverty.

If you would like to support fair trade, then please come along to our next event, a FAIR TRADE BIG BREW on Saturday 28th February at Thackley Methodist Church (Thackley Road, BD10 0RH) from 10am to 12pm, an event held in conjunction with Fairtrade Fortnight (23rd February to 8th March 2015). 

Ruth H, Calverley

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Circuit Talents Challenge

By
"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money ..." Matthew 25:14-30 Why don't you take up the Circuit Talents Challenge by taking a £5 note and making it grow for the Circuit? More details ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The wind among the trees

By
I sat among the trees once. And a wind was blowing. Quite a strong wind; I could hear it in the trees –   rushing, rushing. A lovely sound, soothing to my ears. I stopped what I was writing and began to listen. I remembered that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like   the wind. You could hear it; see its effect. But you couldn’t see the wind itself. You couldn’t see   where it was coming from, nor going to. And I wondered, “Are you showing me something about your Spirit, Lord?” So I sat, and I listened, and I watched. They were big, old trees where I sat. Tall they were, in an ancient wood, well-branched,  shapely. Beech, grey bark against the clear blue of the sky. And leaves: they were leaves that knew the wind;   leaves that let the wind know them. They looked, like beach leaves look in a wind: full of life –   and with a certain beauty all their own. I watched the great crowns of those great trees. I watched the branches sway and the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

For such times as these! - A good news story from Windhill!

By
For such times as these! (Esther 14:14) On June 1st James Stannet (from e:merge , a Christian Youth organisation) began his youth work for Christchurch LEP in Windhill. He says, "Well! June has been a really busy but very productive month. On Wednesday, in the park, numbers are climbing week by week, now averaging 25. Good partnerships have been made with local organisations. this has been a blessing: enabling us to deliver varied sport activities and build good relationships.' 'The Hope Revolution, youth event, based at Christchurch LEP was a massive hit. A BIG Thank you is expressed to the Church for the support, encouragement and prayers. 200 people attended the Fun Day. Despite the rainy weather, 100 young people took part in local projects: two house clear-ups, school garden project (Windhill Primary) and running the Fun Day. 10 Christian Organisations working together resulting in several families requesting Christian children's activities.' ...
Post a Comment
Read more