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Kuapa Kokoo: Meet the farmers
www.oikocredit.org/en/publications/project-partners/kuapa-kokoo-meet-the-farmers
Kuapa Kokoo was established in 1993 by a group of 2000 farmers. Today, that member base has grown to 64,000 and the cooperative is now the only cocoa purchasing organization in the country registered and certified as a Fair Trade organization.
The cooperative’s farmers are trained for a year before becoming members of the cooperative. They learn the tricks of the trade in order to produce quality cocoa beans, proper fermentation to combat bitterness, safe chemical use and child labour expectations. Two of those farmers are Fatima Ali and Felicia Mensah. They shared their story with Oikocredit’s USA team in Washington*
Name: Fatima Ali
Occupation: Cocoa farmer
Country: Ghana
Member of Cooperative: Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union
How did you join Kuapa Kokoo?
I joined Kuapa Kokoo when I completed secondary school in 2000. It’s a good company, owned by the farmers. The farmers share the profit among themselves. Kuapa Kokoo also uses some of the profits to establish projects so the farmers can benefit.
What is your role in the cooperative?
As a member of the National Executive Council, we meet to discuss how our company will improve, how our company will grow. We also sit down to think about our farmers. How will we improve their lives? How will they improve their productivity? How will we train them?
What is the best thing about Kuapa Kokoo?
What I like the most is the women’s training. Because of that, we, the Kuapa Kokoo women, always have money in our hands. At Kuapa Kokoo, they don’t say ‘she is a woman, so she should sit down’. In the old days, men didn’t want women to come and stand in front of them to train them or anything like that. Now, thanks to this training, we have so many women. Even at the National Executive Council, we have six women and five men. It makes me feel happy to be at Kuapa Kokoo.
In addition to farming techniques, what other training does Kuapa Kokoo provide?
They train us to stand in front of people, how to live with our husbands and our children and also how to teach our children. They also train us to use our hands to do many things outside of cocoa. In Ghana, we have two main seasons. In the first season, the cocoa produces more pods. In May, we start the second season – the cocoa doesn’t produce as many pods, so you don’t get much cocoa and you don’t get as much money. If they train you to use your hands to make clothes, to produce soap, then we can sell those things to support ourselves and our husband. We can use some of that money to also pay our children’s school fees. It’s through this training that I have become the national secretary, and at the same time I’m the president of my district and a recorder, and at the same time I’m the chairperson of the trust board. The trust board is set up to receive all funds and premiums on behalf of the farmers.
It’s through training that we have our first woman president.
What changes have you noticed in the organization since you joined?
Four years ago, we had a male president but now, we have a woman. To me, that means Kuapa Kokoo is changing.
Name: Felicia Mensah
Occupation: Cocoa farmer
Country: Ghana
Member of Cooperative: Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union
What is you favourite part of Kuapa Kokoo?
The democratic way. Through that, I am an executive member at my society and I am president at my district level, which is made up of 27 societies.
What personal benefits have you seen after joining Kuapa Kokoo?
With the bonus (given each year based on amount farmers produce and sell), I buy one catras (machete) to help with the farming. Beyond all that, I have been trained in batik (wax printing on cloth), oil extraction and then soap. We have certain soap, and we use the dry cocoa pods to make it. After cocoa season I can do any of these things to support my life and to get something to help my children. So I am benefiting.
How has the financial training helped you?
When I was at CMB (Cocoa Marketing Board), I hadn’t had any of that training. After I’d grown my cocoa, I buy clothes, I buy shoes, I buy this, I buy that. In a short time, the money was finished. After joining Kuapa, I’ve learned the importance of planning to prepare for my family’s future.
What kind of community development projects have made the most impact?
We didn’t have water; we drank the running water in the well which was not good. When the rain came, all the water would get spoiled. Now, since Kuapa has arrived, we have the hand pump well, which is very potable. Also, if you go to the district now, we have a big school building for the children. Previously, they attended school under a tree. Which was very, very bad. So Kuapa has done a lot for the farmers.
Kuapa Kokoo members speak of ‘Nobua’ - what does that mean?
Nobua means ‘if you help me, I also help you.’ Simply because during the main crop the cocoa produces more pods. You cannot sit down and break all of the pods on your own. Because of that, you ask your friends and your family to help you. If the person comes and helps, you also go to his or her farm to help them. At the same time, when you are sending the cocoa from the farm to the house, you cannot carry it unless others come to help you. Then you also go and help that person.
* These transcripts are excerpts from a longer interview. Some answers have been paraphrased and corrected for clarity purposes only.
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s) and not do necessarily reflect the views of the AfricaFiles' editors and network members. They are included in our material as a reflection of a diversity of views and a variety of issues. Material written specifically for AfricaFiles may be edited for length, clarity or inaccuracies.
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