Forty (40) Cocoa farmers from the Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative Cocoa Farmers Union (KKFU), have undergone training in financial literacy training in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The two-weeks training was to help improve the financial literacy level of the farmers, help them increase their yields and change their focus from seeing cocoa farming as a normal activity to a business venture.
The training, which was facilitated by a finance institution with the focus on supporting agric value chain in farming, Root capital, was financed by MasterCard Foundation.
The beneficiary farmers were all members of the Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited (KKFU), which is one of the top clients of Root Capital.
The farmers will continue their engagements with extensions officers in various cocoa communities to implement new mechanisms to increase their yields and also be exposed to business ventures they can explore in the sector.
The farmers were taken through ‘cocoa maintenance crop calendar’, and how to make investment decisions, management of their working capital cycle and financial planning in general.
Speaking to journalists during the climax of the workshop, Portfolio Manager for Root Capital, Francis Opoku-Mensah, said the purpose of the training was to build the capacities of the cocoa farmers in financial literacy to enable them negotiate well with their business partners.
He said farmers can increase their yields if they are able to adhere to the crop calendar since the average acre yields in Ghana is lower than the average acre yields in Ivory Coast.
“Currently, an acre gives them three bags, if you interact with the farmers, they will tell you they are getting around three bags. But if they are able to implement the crop calendar well, they should be able to get around 16 bags which is equivalent to one tone”, he said.
Executive Secretary of Kuapa Kokoo, Nelson Adubofour, said the industry was becoming more complicated and farmers must be taken through innovative ways to enable them manage their own finances.
“The motive basically is to make the farmer financially literate and also be able to manage their own affairs and financial status”, he indicated.
Mr. Adubofour said the Union will continue to equip cocoa farmers with the needed capacities to help them increase their yields and also contribute their quota in Ghana’s cocoa industry.
He maintained that farmers will be able to carry out budgeting on their own, and find innovative ways of saving when they are able to compare their expenditure with their incomes.
Management of the KKFU presented a citation to Root Capital for its support over the years in improving the lives of its farmers through capacity building programmes and advisory services.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/Citinewsroom.com/Ghana