Promoting the cocoa sustainability initiative - the Cocoa Merchant (Gh.) Ltd. story

The world cocoa trade is gradually moving towards sustainability. At the moment, the demand for sustainable cocoa globally is acknowledged to be rising steadily. This is evident in the fact that consumers are becoming ever more concerned about the social, environmental and economic issues in the cocoa supply chain. Processors likewise want to avoid the risk of quality loss, supply shortfalls and sullied reputations.

Although Africa’s cocoa production is estimated to be about 68% of the global cocoa production, worryingly however, cocoa production in the West Africa sub region has in recent years been observed to be declining annually. This is attributed to a number of factors among which is the increasing pressure the sector faces to supply the world market, as well as other socioeconomic compounding issues threatening the economic stability of cocoa producing countries within the West African sub region.

It is in line with this that Cocoa Merchants Ghana Limited, a licensed cocoa buying company in Ghana, has joined in the mass global effort to promote sustainable cocoa production practices, by initiating the ‘MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE,’ sustainable cocoa program.

The program, overall targets contribute to improve the income levels and livelihoods of cocoa farmers and farm workers by implementing UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certification standards and new initiatives for the value added market.

It also seeks to; enhance the knowledge base and farmers’ awareness on sustainable production practices of cocoa; form and consolidate farmer learning groups implementing good practices; and encourage the involvement and participation of women in sustainable cocoa production.

The ‘MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE’ sustainable cocoa program is envisioned to help improve the lives of cocoa farmers and the quality of their products while also assuring a sustainable cocoa supply for years to come.

ABASOBODIE, which literally means “to reward” in the Akan language of Ghana, will reward all farmers in the project communities implementing good practices. The whole idea is to create a world where sustainable farming is the norm.

Since its establishment in 1998, Cocoa Merchants Ghana Limited has progressively improved upon its performance and has a current market share of about 4.8 percent. The company believes that ensuring a sustainable cocoa economy is crucial in advancing the development of the country. It has therefore positioned itself better to intensify its support package to farmers to enable them boost production in a more sustainable manner.

The admission of Cocoa Merchants Ghana Limited to the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and with its Managing Director, Nana Amo Adade Boamah serving as a board member of the foundation has given it international recognition.

The beginning of the MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE sustainable cocoa program brought about the creation of the sustainability unit of Cocoa Merchants Ghana Limited and the provision of adequate logistics to take up the task ahead.

The team, led by the sustainability coordinator, also includes an ICS Manager, ten district field supervisors and three documentation officers. The team works in close collaboration with the regional and district managers as well as purchasing clerks of the company, farmers and opinion leaders in the project communities and all subsidiaries of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and these include Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit (CSSVD-CU), Quality Control Company (QCC), Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) and Seed Production Unit (SPU).

This first phase of the program covered ten out of the sixty cocoa districts that the company operates. These districts include KONONGO, ANTOAKROM and ASANTE BEKWAI districts in the Ashanti region. The remaining districts are made up of NYINAHIN, SANKORE and TEPA districts in the Ashanti/BA regions, AGONA DUAKWA in the Eastern region and NSOKOTE, ASSIN FOSU and ASSIN BEREKU districts in Ashanti/ Central region.

The program sensitized, registered and trained 6,665 farmers who passed their first year UTZ and Rainforest Alliance audit and are now growing over 8,000 MT of UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The farmers were among others educated on appropriate farming and labor practices. Internal inspection of members farms were also carried out and some underwent corrective actions that brought their farms up to Rainforest Alliance and UTZ standards, including adequate record-keeping and proper use and disposal of only approved crop protection products.

The program has proven that productivity could be substantially improved, family incomes and labor practices while also increasing cocoa quality. Training programs, including business knowledge and good agricultural practices which are part of the program package has meaningfully changed the lives of cocoa farmers, their families and their communities.

Cocoa Merchants Ghana limited also announced that it is expanding its MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE sustainable Cocoa program by launching phase II, which will increase the number of participating farmers from its current 6,665 to more than 10,000 in the same ten districts in the Ashanti, Central, Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana.

Phase II will also seek to maintain a high participation rate for women farmers with a goal of 33 percent women registered farmers, a level of gender balance which was achieved in phase I and confirmed in the program's year end 2013 progress report.

Another goal of the 2^nd phase would be to educate farmers to recognize farming as business through the “Agriculture as a Business module” (also known as AAB) and to manage their farms as a business, rather than simply as a cash crop.

AAB also aims at promoting group cohesion and undertaking group activities that brings additional funds into group accounts.

It is hoped that the MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE sustainable Cocoa program will serve as a vehicle to bring best practices to cocoa farmers, provide sufficient assurance to the buyers of our cocoa beans and create value for all parties in the supply chain.

Check back soon for more update on the MERCHANTS ABASOBODIE Sustainable Cocoa Program but until then, live a sustainable life.