Skip to main content

Nestlé Ghana launches Cocoa Plan to support farmers



By: Fred Yaw Sarpong, Daily Express

Nestle Ghana has launched a Cocoa Plan to enable cocoa farmers in Ghana run profitable farms and also get distribution of higher yielding cocoa plants and rewards for good quality cocoa.

The project which was launched in Accra is part of is part of the company’s global efforts to support the lives of cocoa farmers and increase the quality of their crops.

To achieve this, the Nestle Cocoa Plan focuses on improving social conditions, through the elimination of child labour and by focusing on women, children and their specific needs for education, health and water; and also sourcing sustainable, good quality cocoa, by ensuring long term supply of good quality cocoa, increasing transparency in the supply chain and respecting the environment.

The Head of Communications at the Nestle Ghana, Aaron Fenu said Nestlé Ghana has been closely working with the communities it sources cocoa from since 2009.

According to him the company already trained over 9,000 farmers, built three schools and constructed eight boreholes benefitting 14,000 people in communities in the Eastern and Ashanti regions.

‘The company also built four Village Resource Centres, providing training facilities for local students and video training on best farming methods for cocoa farmers,’ he added.

In October 2014, Nestlé announced the renewal of its long-standing collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), committing to contribute a lot of money over five years to the organisation.

In the framework of the partnership, water access and hygiene projects will be extended to cocoa growing communities in Ghana.

The launch of the Nestle Cocoa Plan in Ghana comes as a specific commitment of the company to the implementation of the “CocoaAction”, an industry-wide strategy aiming to accelerate sustainability and improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

The Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Dr. Francis Oppong, stated that COCOBOD gives its support to industrial initiatives geared towards improving and sustaining the cocoa industry and recognizes the need to collaborate and coordinate efforts with the private sector to achieve success.

Mr. Moataz El Hout, the Managing Director of Nestlé Ghana Limited said: “We believe collaboration with partners, a multi-stakeholder approach and transparency are critical to our long-term success and will benefit the communities we work with”.

In Ghana, the Nestlé Cocoa Plan is implemented in partnership with Source Trust, Armajaro (ECOMS) and Noble Resource.

The Nestlé Cocoa Plan is active in most major cocoa-growing countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and Indonesia. Nestlé has committed to source 120 000 tonnes of cocoa through the Plan by 2016.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some

90 African Journalists entertain by Disney Africa

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express Mauritius Disney Africa welcomed 90 journalists from across Africa to their first ever showcase to media from the continent, at this year’s Multichoice Africa Content Showcase Extravaganza. On Thursday 3 September, guests received a Disney Movie ticket which gained them entry to the special outdoor screening, set under the stars on the lawns of the idyllic Outrigger Beach Resort in Mauritius . After receiving their own Disney picnic basket and blankets, full of delicious treats and filling food, the guests made their way to the seating area, replete with comfortable chairs and loungers. Once the Disney fans were settled, the vast outdoor screen lit up and the evening’s festivities were well under way. A welcome speech by Deirdre King, Head of Marketing for the Walt Disney Company Africa, preceded the screening of two animated shorts. The first, the Academy Award-nominated Get a Horse, featured Disney favourites like Mickey, Minni

ABL launches chibuku super in Bolgatanga

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has officially launched the Chibuku Super drink at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region with the aim of reaching a lot of customers. Mr. Thomas Nii Ponku, Supervisor in charge of Chibuku Super at ABL told Daily Express that the management decided to launch the Chibuku Super drink in the Upper East region because they’ve realized it is similar to a traditional drink in the region. “Chibuku is like a well developed pito, a traditional drink made from fermented millet or sorghum in the Northern part of Ghana. So the idea is to provide them with similar drink,” he added. Mr. Nii Ponku disclosed this when members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured the facility of ABL to acquaint themselves with the expansion project at the factory. He mentioned that after a feasibility study, they realized there is a potential market for the product in the northern part of Ghana