Dr. Bernad Bingab, Chairman of the Ghana Cooperative Council’s Board, has encouraged cocoa farmers to embrace and adopt cooperatives model formation to strengthen the collective voice of smallholder farmers in Ghana.
Implementing a cooperative model, according to him, has the potential to boost cocoa production and improve the socio-economic conditions of farmers across cocoa growing communities.
He was speaking at a stakeholder workshop, organized by World Cocoa Farmers Organization in partnership with Agriterra Ghana, Solidaridad West Africa, and the Department of Co-operatives in Accra.
The workshop brought together key stakeholders from Cocoa cooperative Unions, COCOBOD, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Ghana Co-operative Council, The Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Fairtrade Africa Network, Rainforest Alliance, Rikolto, SOCODEVI and traditional authorities, themed “Unity in Diversity; forging a strong cocoa cooperative Apex as a key to unlocking the Ghana cocoa sector.
Why Apex Body
Acting Registrar, Apraku Yeboah said cooperatives would equip farmers with the productivity and management skills that will improve their livelihoods and help them generate additional income from cocoa sales.
He asserted that the establishment of robust cooperatives is the driving force to empower cocoa farmers.
“We are spearheading the introduction of a new cooperatives bill that seeks to strengthen farmer cooperatives” he added.
Moses Djan Asiedu, Board Secretary, World Cocoa Farmers Organization (WCFO) Ghana chapter explained that for the past three years, the WCFO has been supported by Agriterra Ghana and Solidaridad West Africa towards establishing a co-operative Cocoa Farmers Union Apex body to strengthen the collective voice and capabilities of cocoa farmers across the country.
“Our main aim for the Apex body formation is to provide a forum for farmers’ voices to be heard at relevant decision making tables as well as enable us to complement the effort of sector regulators like COCOBOD, Ministries, and other national and international stakeholders” he said.
Motivation
Country Representative for Agriterra in Ghana, Mrs. Habiba Nyarko Agyemang mentioned that their motivation at Agriterra is to support and empower cocoa cooperatives to better position themselves in the cocoa value chain through strategic and data driven advocacy for their members needs and sustainable business development in order to become sparring partners for development.
“Agriterra’s goal is to support FOs in increasing their purchasing and selling pricing power of their member farmers, create a united voice for policymakers and establish agri-services that offer competitive market solutions to their member farmers, making cooperatives advocates for farmer needs, creators of job opportunities and fully-fledged professional businesses for sustainable economic development” she said.
Mr. Emmanuel Oduro Darko, Credit Union Ambassador for Africa stated that cooperative societies have evolved into comprehensive service providers and our cocoa farmers must take advantage of it.
“The cooperative formation will provide a lot of opportunities, such as building a school, clinic and other amenities for your communities” he said.
Country Representative for Solidaridad, Eric Agyare mentioned that his organization is dedicated to supporting the formation agenda, to enable farmers to participate in decision-making processes actively.
“This lack of representation often leads to formulating policies that don’t align with farmers’ needs, hindering sustainable cocoa production efforts” he said.
Appreciation
The leaders of the various farmer groups used the opportunity to thank Agriterra in Ghana and Solidaridad West Africa for supporting the formation of the national Apex body.
The farmers urged their colleague farmers to desist from partisan politics as society leaders which has the potential of breaking their font.
Story by:
Nana Yaw Reuben
