Amajaro presents farming inputs to 41,000 cocoa farmers
More than 41,000 cocoa farmers in the country have been provided with free farming inputs as a means of helping them to improve on their farms.The inputs were supplied at a ceremony held at Bonsu-Nkwanta in the Dwaboso District in the Western Region.
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The inputs were supplied by Agroecom Ghana Ltd (Amajaro), a leading cocoa-buying company in the country, in collaboration with a partner, Lindt, a chocolate manufacturing company in Switzerland.
The items which cost GH¢2 million comprised sprayers, wellington boots, machetes and clothing for farm work.
The event was on the theme, “Cocoa Sustainability - a key to improving farmers’ productivity and livelihood,” and was directed at showing appreciation to the farmers who have shown commitment in sustaining cocoa cultivation and production in the country.
The cocoa farmers who were present at the ceremony had come from cocoa-growing districts all over the country.
The Head of Licenced Buying at Agroecom, Mr Dennis Dorsah Sampong, said since the 2012/2013 crop season, Agroecom Ghana Limited and Lindt had adopted various programmes meant to address challenges farmers were facing as well as help them improve their yield.
He said for instance that the two companies had set up demonstration farms, provided improved planting materials and agrochemicals, mapped farms and organised farmers into groups.
Mr Sampong said a total of 41,648 farmers had been trained in ways of using the right materials and practices to improve their yield.
Investment
He said Agroecom Ghana Limited, in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board and other chocolate manufacturers, had over the past five years invested more than five million US dollars (USD 5,000,000) in different farm improvement methods and rural livelihood projects across five cocoa-producing regions in the country.
He mentioned the setting up of 75 Village Resource Centres in rural schools together with the Ghana Education Service as one of the projects it had undertaken. The village resource centres are information technology centres to be used by schools, farmers and the wider community to develop their information technology skills and studies.
In addition, Mr Sampong said, the company had provided 50,000 long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito bed nets to farmers in some cocoa-growing districts in the country.
Boreholes
Moreover, he said, a total of 64 boreholes had been constructed in the Western Region to ease the water needs of the farmers and that this year, 60 more boreholes were to be constructed in the rest of the areas where the company operated.
The Head of Sustainability Management Services and Inputs of Agroecom Ghana Limited, Mr Richard Suwli, disclosed that as part of initiatives to enhance the activities of farmers, the company had established a programme called ‘Farmers Business School’ that trained and educated farmers on best practices as a means of ensuring growth and development of their farming businesses.
He tasked the farmers not to see farming as business for the poor but rather as a profitable venture and tackle it with all the seriousness it deserved in order to maximise their earnings.