A Story on Farming in Ghana
"My decision to rehabilitate my farms through Cocoa Life has transformed my life for the better."
By Ohene Boafo, cocoa farmer and president of the Atta-Ne-Atta Cooperative Society and West Akyem Cooperative Union
In Ghana, cocoa farmers face challenges such as aging trees, pests, and diseases. To improve farmers’ livelihoods, Cocoa Life has partnered with Tree Global, a large scale nursery operator to produce high-quality cocoa seedlings to be distributed among farmers and help rehabilitate degraded farmlands. Upon registering into the Cocoa Life program, farmers are invited to attend a training program to learn agricultural skills, such as pruning techniques, to increase yield. Farmers can then tour one of the more than 400 demonstration plots to see the results up close. If a farmer decides to rehabilitate, he or she also receives high-quality planting materials. Currently, the demand for these seedlings is high. Here, Ohene Boafo, a 33-year-old cocoa farmer, father of eight, and president of the Atta-Ne-Atta Cooperative Society and West Akyem Cooperative Union, describes his experience with rehabilitating his five cocoa farms: