COCOA FARMERS ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION OF AFRICA APPRECIATES COTE D'IVOIRE-GHANA ROLES AT GLOBAL SUMMIT

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COCOA FARMERS ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION OF AFRICA APPRECIATES COTE D’IVOIRE-GHANA ROLES AT GLOBAL SUMMIT

…As Global Coordinator Adeola Adegoke commends Executive Secretary, Alex Assanvo represented by Deputy Executive Secretary,
Tawiah Agyarko-Kwarteg

The Cocoa Farmers Alliance Association of Africa (COFAAA) has appreciated H.E. Alex Assanvo, the Executive Secretary of Cote d’ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGHCI) for his keynote address at the maiden global webinar of the association through his representative, Mrs Tawiah Agyarko-Kwarteg, Deputy Executive Secretary and Technical Manager to CIGHCI.

Speaking at the event, tagged “One Voice, One Future Uniting Cocoa Farmers for a Thriving Africa, Mrs Tawiah Agyarko-Kwarteg congratulated the President and Global Coordinator of COFAAA- Comrade Adeola Adegoke and his team for coming up with the regional organization to amplify the voice of the cocoa farmers which they regarded as timely.

She also noted that the development aligned with the vision and mission of the Cote d’ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative working for the cocoa farmers prosperity through the three pillars of sustainability; economic, social and environmental.

She explained that CIGHCI was put in place by the presidents of Cote d’ivoire and Ghana to address dire situations at some point and to jointly address renumeration through pricing for their cocoa farmers at the two countries who are giants in cocoa production and accounted for the 70% of the African cocoa production.
The representative, Mrs. Tawiah Agyarko-Kwarteg also went further to appreciate farmers, partners and industry leaders for their participation at the webinar. She expressed the deepest regret of H. E, Alex Assanvo for not being able to make the event in person.

It was observed that “based on the speech delivered by Comrade Adeola Adegoke, they believe that cocoa is not only the livelihoods of cocoa communities but the heritage of our ancestors”.

She said many of “our cocoa farmers live in abject poverty and many social inequities amongst our cocoa farmers in their communities and emphasized that policy that believes in the protection of the people and the planet must reflect in the livelihoods of our cocoa farmers through decent incomes and mutual benefits of cocoa Value Chain stakeholders”.

Mrs. Tawiah Agyarko-Kwarteg talked about the three pillars of sustainability; socio-economic and environmental. And that economic sustainability is being tackled by CIGHCI through fair pricing for our cocoa farmers in Cote d’voire and Ghana to enhance their prosperity and also strengthening local processing and value addition in order to increase better values for our cocoa farmers.

Mrs Tawiah also enlightened the participants at the webinar on the environmental sustainability which the organization is tackling through providing solutions to pest and disease affecting most cocoa producing countries e.g cocoa swollen shoot disease and coming up with variety that is drought and pest resistant to support production with climate smart practices.

She concluded on the third pillar which is social sustainability which is to encourage strong cooperative formation at the community levels.

“This is to bring about good community practice, improve their incomes through better bargaining power and deliberate empowerment of women to support their children and households”.

“We express our appreciation once again for all the global participants and H. E, Alex Assanvo attendance at the webinar through his capable representative”.