20 • Food Security• C&CI May 2012
Farmers such as Kwabena Kwarteng have found that results can be achieved in only a few seasons
Through such training, farmers learn how
to view their farms as money-making busi- ness ventures that are capable of sustaining households and increasing food security. They learn to live off the land better, con- tributing to other ancillary benefits like increased soil fertility and water retention. Farmers come to know the advantages of saving and planning for future harvests of both cocoa and their other crops.
Efficiencies in cocoa farming raise the
average cocoa yield per household and encourage better land use and crop diversifi- cation, helping many small holder farmers to withstand shocks in the cocoa market while still cultivating the cash crop to buttress their total income. Importantly, in learning sustainable cocoa
production practices, farmers see the value beyond fulfilling basic needs and instead see it as a successful business. Farmers see for themselves that there is a tangible link between their labour, increased yields, improved livelihoods, and food security as well as with the overall economic feasibilty of their farming as a sustainable business and its links to a successful national economy.
Real results
WCF works with chocolate/cocoa industry partners, governments, and technical experts in a private-public partnership to provide production and business skills training to small holder cocoa farmers in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria. After an initial phase to foster capacity in existing training outfits, like agri- cultural extension, training modules are transferred to local institutions. In Ghana, for example, Cocobod has
assumed responsibility for some of the WCF programmes, renaming them "Farmer Business School", and incorporating them into its agricultural extension activities.
Training farmers can help them appreciate the value of sustainable production practices and see their farms as businesses
Smallholders as businessmen
For Mr Kwarteng’s farm in central Ghana, results were dramatic: a more than three-fold increase in his cocoa harvest over the previ- ous year. As another Ghanaian farmer explained to in-country WCF staff: "I now think of farming as a business and don’t sell my cassava and plantain for any price. I sell for the price that is best for me, best for my farm and best for all my income. I plan money-in/money-out for my cocoa as well."
Introducing THE COFFEE TRUST®
A CATALYST FOR GRASS ROOTS DEVELOPMENT AT ORIGIN
and Economic Development for Coffee Farmers Education, Health Care, Food Security
Contact: Bill Fishbein
bill@thecoffeetrust.org www.thecoffeetrust.org
In addition to Kwabena Kwarteng’s suc-
cesses, the wisdom of this model was demonstrated recently when many farmers witnessed a reduction in income from cocoa because of heavier than normal rainfall, but saw their overall incomes increase as a result of crop diversification. C&CI
* by Sona Ebai, Mbalo Ndiaye and Laura Ostenso. Sona Ebai is Lagos-based senior technical advisor, gover- nance and policy, for WCF’s African Cocoa Initiative; Mbalo Ndiaye is the Accra-based director for WCF’s Cocoa Livelihoods Programme; and Laura Ostenso is a Leland International Hunger Fellow, based in Accra
Farmers are now even taking a cue from
WCF-supplied trainings to access text mes- sages received on their cellphones that inform them when, how and which inputs to apply to their cocoa trees. As a result of the WCF model, farmers are diversifying their sources of income to include plantain, cas- sava, and even livestock or food processing, while maintaining cocoa as the primary cash crop.
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