Yaa Peprah Amekudzi (left), the Country Lead of Mondelez International Cocoa Life, being assisted by Kofi Opoku Mensah, the MD of Cocoa Merchants Ghana Limited, to cut a tape during the opening of the Rural Service Centre at Nyinahin.

ADM support farmers to improve cocoa productivity

Daily Graphic Feb - 27 - 2016 , 09:18

The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) has donated $40,800 to Agro Eco-Louis Bolk Institute Ghana (AELBI) for the construction of three Rural service centres at Nyinahin and Tepa in the Ashanti Region and Sankore in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Agro Eco-Louis Bolk Institute, which has been active in the Ghana cocoa sector since 2005, advises and trains the private sector, non-governmental organisations and farmer organisations in sustainable agriculture value chains.

The AE-LBI, Ghana also works on project management in sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, food security, assistance towards certification, farmer training and organisation and quality management.

In a press release the Regional Manager from Louis Bolk Institute Ghana, Willem-Albert Toose, noted that the Rural Service Centres (RSC) would support farmers to improve their productivity by providing training and technical support on good farming practices, facilitating farmers’ access to inputs and providing farm services such as spraying, pruning, thinning and farm rehabilitation.

The release said operation of the RSC would be the basic approach in implementing the farming pillar of the Mondelez International Cocoa Life programme, recognising suppliers and farmers who directly contributed to the share of cocoa and to help take responsibility as a Company for their personal successes.

It added that this was to ensure that not only the very best in cocoa bean quality were being sourced “but more importantly, farmers are being provided with all the support they need to make and keep their business prosperous and sustainable.

“ADM (now OLAM), which operates one of the largest cocoa producing factories in Ghana in Kumasi, is a social investment programme that directs funds to initiatives and organisations that drive meaningful social, economic and environmental progress worldwide. The programme comprises three distinct focus areas: supporting the responsible development of agriculture, improving the quality of life in communities and fostering employee giving and volunteer activities”.