A TOTAL of 120 cocoa farmers, who were the first to be enrolled on the Gold Fields Cocoa Farmers Support Programme (GFCFSP) have successfully exited the programme. During the period, each of the 120 farmers had two acres of their farm lands supplied with free fertilizers for a whole year. Another batch of 120 cocoa farmers have taken over from the graduating group.
The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation in 2018 took a decision to aid cocoa farmers in their host communities by establishing the Cocoa Farmers Support Scheme.
Per the terms of the scheme, a total of 120 cocoa farmers, in consultation with the Damang Mine Consultative Farmers Association (MMCFA), would be enrolled onto the programme for a period of three years.
At the end of the three years, the beneficiaries would exit for another batch to be enrolled onto the programme. From the date of the establishment of the Cocoa Support Programme, a total of 480 cocoa farmers, from the eight host communities of the Damang Mine, have benefited from the intervention.
At a ceremony to welcome the new batch of 120 farmers onto the Cocoa Support Scheme, the General Manger of Damang Mine, Michiel Van der Merwe, said the increase in the income of the beneficiaries had better positioned them to afford the government subsidised fertilizers.
He said in 2020, after three consecutive years of support, an assessment of the impact of the programme was undertaken and it turned out that all the farmers recorded an increase in their yearly cocoa yields.
An average acre of coca farm land prior to the intervention yielded between 10 to 12 bags of cocoa annually. However, after three years of constant application of fertilizers, the same acres were giving the farmers more than 16 bags, an increase of about 33%.
He mentioned that since the introduction of the intervention, a total of 480 farmers, with a combine farm size of 960 acres, had enjoyed support from the Foundation under the Cocoa Support Programme.
Mr Van der Merwe noted that mining does not only co-exist with farming but also serves as a catalyst to boost agricultural production ‘and Gold Fields Ghana Foundation is showing the way in this area’.
At the ceremony to welcome a total of 120 cocoa farmers, each farmer received 6 bags of Adwumapa cocoa fertilizer, 48 sachet of fungicide and 2 bottles of insecticides.
In all, a total of 2160 Adwumapa fertilizers were distributed to the farmers.
The Community Affairs Manager of Damang Mine, Mr. Razak Abdul Yakubu, said the intervention was to supplement government’s effort to increase cocoa yields in its catchment communities.
He said, considering the long standing relationship Damang Mine had enjoyed with its eight host communities, the intervention would go a long way to cement the relationship.
One of the beneficiaries of the intervention, Madam Grace Ofori, recounted how the intervention had come to supplement government’s subsidised fertilizer.
Grace Ofori, therefore, appealed to her colleague farmers to use the fertilizer for the purpose it was given and desist from selling them.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, reminded the farmers that cocoa farming was a valuable enterprise.
Praising the mining company for the intervention, Mr Cudjoe appealed to the company to endeavor to extend the intervention to cover other beneficiaries.
Present at the ceremony were the Municipal Chief Executive, Dr. Isaac Drasmani, Emma Morrison, Regional Manager, Corporate Affairs, elected Assembly Members and Chiefs.
He said the farmers would be ungrateful to the mining company if they decide to sell the fertilizers, instead of using it for the purpose it was given out for.
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