Three hundred (300) cocoa farmers within the catchment area of the Gold Fields Tarkwa Mines in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region are to benefit from a Cocoa Farmers Support Program over the next five years.
The project, a flagship of the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation aims at increasing the yields of the beneficiary farmers by some 60% and further targets increasing the total farming acreage of 250 farmers by 25% through input support and training.
The program hopes to draw from the successes chalked at its Damang Catchment area where some 600 farmers enrolled on the same initiative in the year 2018; have recorded a growth in yields of some 77% with beneficiaries making a 40% growth in incomes.
The corporate social investment which aligns with the foundation’s ideals of ensuring value beyond mining aims at rewriting the narrative of unsustainable mining activities that have taken over arable lands leaving locals economically disadvantaged.
The beneficiary cocoa farmers are expected to receive COCOBOD – approved fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and cocoa seedlings; capacity building on best farm practices and agroforestry as well as support for farm expansion and sustainable farming through seedling distribution.
Addressing the launch DR Catherine Kuupol Kuutor, Goldfields Tarkwa Mine Manager noted with worry that even though cocoa is the mainstay of the Tarkwa mine host communities, a baseline study conducted on cocoa farms in towns like Pepesa and Huniso revealed that farmers were reaping less than a third of their farm capacities.
She disclosed: “Nana Chairman, a baseline assessment conducted in the Tarkwa communities revealed an average yield of 2.2 bags per acre, well below the recommended 8 bags per acre. The study also revealed pervasive challenges in input access, pest management, finance and labour,”
“The Cocoa Farmers Support Programme addresses these gaps by supporting farmers with inputs whilst linking them to access to credit through the Promprom Credit Union and promoting climate-smart agroforestry and integrated pest management. It is interesting to note that the Promprom Credit Union was also set up with support from the Foundation.”
Commendation from Nananom
Nana Dr. Adarkwa Bediako III (Apinto Gyaasehene commended the managers of the Foundation for the initiative and appealed to Gold Fields and government to help reclaim and restore the huge tracks of cocoa lands, left in ruins as a result of destructive illegal mining activities.
Calling for stronger sanctions including arrests and imprisonment of persons who sell off their cocoa farms to illegal miners, he expressed worry that the immediate gains of such transactions threaten the sustainability of livelihoods in their community.
““This is a threat to our nation and so there should be some sort of serious measure that will cause people not to sell. It should include imprisonment and fines. I will be willing to support that,” he stated sternly.
Government Efforts
Ghana’s cocoa yields have dwindled sharply from a record high of a million tons in the 2020 – 2021 cropping year to a low of some 500,000 tons in the year 2024 threatening the country’s enviable position among leading producers of the cash crop in the world.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD – Finance and Administration, Ato Boateng pointed out that the initiatives of the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation perfectly resonate with governments plans to boost yields through best agronomical practices, rehabilitation of moribund and diseased cocoa trees and reclamation of lands lost to galamsey.
He gave assurances that governments recently announced plans to acquire 200,000 hectares of land for a new cocoa plantation held a great potential of reversing Ghana’s plummeting cocoa outputs.
The member of parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem who doubles as the trustee for Gold fields Ghana Foundation; Issa Salifu Taylor pledged to work with the ministry of lands and natural resources to ensure that any gains chalked from the Cocoa Farmers Support Program is not destroyed by illegal mining activities.
Foundation Remarks
Executive Secretary of Goldfields Ghana Foundation Abdel-Razak Yakubu acknowledged that though both mining and farming were competing for finite land resources; both economic activities should coexist sustainably.
He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador: “While the farmers tap the nutrients at the top soil and we look for the minerals below it; the conflict is inevitable.”
We should however be able to allow farmers to earn a living even if it is on the same concession. To go a step forward, we have channeled our corporate social responsibility muscle into supporting these farmers improve their livelihoods to positively affect the local economies of their communities and build sustainable wealth,” he pointed out.
Razak was particularly excited about the capacity building component that would ensure sustainability of farms, protection of the environment through climate smart farming and the additional health benefit for farmers who will be trained to safely handle agro-chemicals.
Beneficiary Farmers
An elated chief farmer Joseph Portuphy told GHONE NEWS the project had come as a relief; recounting how many farmers had lost hope, unable to purchase subsidized fertilizers and other inputs to better their yields.
“The government subsidized inputs usually arrive here long after the season for applying them so we get very little from our farms. With this support, we are going to have a bumper harvest,” he assured.
Gold Fields CSR Agric Investments
The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation has over the years invested SOME US$6.9 million in a number of agriculture development and enhancement initiatives.
These initiatives cover livestock production, the Community Oil Palm Project (COPP), the Youth in Organic Horticulture Production (YouHoP) programme, and the Cocoa Farmers Support Programme.
Source : www.kumasimail.com /Ivan Heathcote – Fumador.
