Cocoa Abrabopa Association provides water for Akyekyere community
Cocoa farmers and residents of Akyekyere in the Amenfi Central District of Western Region of Ghana have commended Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CAA) for providing them with a mechanised borehole and a new water tank.
As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, the Cocoa Abrabopa Community Development Project committee selected Akyekyere as one of the communities to benefit from its mechanised borehole project.
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The Association revealed that they have constructed 25 mechanised boreholes across all the 10 cocoa growing regions in the country. The regions are Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western North, Western, Volta and Oti regions.
According to the Council Chairman of CAA, Mr. Ismail Pomasi, they are fulfilled to have made potable water accessible to about 40,000 inhabitants in cocoa growing communities in the country, including Akyekyere community.
At a ceremony to inaugurate the mechanised boreholes, the Council Chairman indicated that funding for all the 25 mechanised boreholes were from internal sources.
“Five per cent of member’s premiums are transferred into the community development project fund; and that is what we are using for our community development projects,” he said.
Mr. Pomasi reiterated to the community members the need to contribute a token for every bucket of water fetched for the maintenance of the mechanised boreholes and urged the community members to take good care of the borehole so as to derive long-term benefits.
He also used the occasion to invite local and international organisations to partner CAA to provide Community Development Projects at larger scale in cocoa growing regions in Ghana, aimed at improving the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.
The Chief of Akyekyere, Nana Okofo Asafo Adjei II, supported the idea that each household must be encouraged to contribute a token for maintenance of the boreholes.
According to him, “community committee made up of local CAA farmers, traditional authorities, community members and the local district assembly should be established as a means of increasing the representation and participation of residents in the decision-making process."
The District Coordinating Director for Amenfi Central, Mr. Emmanuel Boateng emphasised charged the community to maintain the facility well in order to achieve the purpose for which it was provided.
“Sustainable development encourages us to conserve and enhance our resource base, by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies. Communities must be helped to meet their basic needs of employment, food, energy, water and sanitation,” he said.