More than 500 cocoa farmers have received assistance in obtaining documentation of their land rights. This is a part of the Cocoa Household Income Diversification Project run by by Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Ltd. – a member of the Barry Callebaut Group, with funding from Cocoa Horizons, Beyond Chocolate, IDH, and Aldi South.
Fred Frimpong, Country Sustainability Manager for Barry Callebaut/Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Ltd., expressed optimism that the land registration documents will empower the farmers to make smart investment decisions to boost farm productivity and improve their standard of living. A durbar was carried out to hand over the documents to the more than 500 cocoa farmers in Sefwi Wiawso.
“This ultimately is the vision of the Cocoa Horizons Programme being implemented by Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited for over 120,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana. Nyonkopa will continue facilitating the land registration process for farmers beyond this initial pilot programme, and we hope we can count on the support of all partners in this regard,” he said.
A total of 501 cocoa farmers, including 120 women, received land rights documentation with the help of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Council, giving them a significant boost to legalise their ownership and enable long-term investments in the farms, reducing the risk of having the land claimed by others after investing over time. They were chosen from the Western North Region’s Sefwi-Bodi, Sefwi-Asawinso, and Adabokrom cocoa districts.