I spoke with Mr. Kofi Nimako, the operations manager  and Mr. Kwame Owusu, the finance manager of Kuapa Kokoo, Ltd. (KKL), the licensed buying company that forms the commercial arm of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmer’s Union. The system of private licensed buying agents was developed as part of the liberalization projects of the early 1990s (1993). As a matter of fact, KKL came into being as a reaction to this process. There are around 30 licensed buying companies in Ghana but the number fluctuates as new ones emerge while others disappear. KKL is the only cooperative-owned company. Continue reading “On the trail of cocoa in Ghana”
The Basics of Kuapa Kokoo
The Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKFU) is a cooperative organization for cocoa farmers in Ghana. Its origin lies in the liberalization of the internal cocoa trade implemented by the government of Ghana in the early 1990s. Its founder, Nana Frimpong Abebrese, had represented cocoa farmers at the Cocoa Marketing Board of Ghana and he worried about the impact of liberalization on cocoa farmers throughout the country. Continue reading “The Basics of Kuapa Kokoo”
My Visit to Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana
I’ve been offline for a while because I had the opportunity to visit my favorite cocoa growers cooperative - Kuapa Kokoo – in Kumasi, Ghana. There is lots to report and I will post various bits and pieces here in the coming days. The trip was an amazing experience and the reception by Kuapa Kokoo representatives and members was warm. I had the chance to interview some of the top leadership at the headquarters and visit one of the village societies (the basic building blocks of the cooperative) at Boakyeasua in the Brong-Ahafo Region to the West of Kumasi. Overall, I got great insight into the way the cocoa economy works in Ghana.
Hershey Net Profit Down 65%
These are bad days for Hershey. As Bloomberg reports, the company’s fourth quarter was dreadful. It lost market share to Mars and faces higher cocoa and milk prices. The forecast for 2008 is not promising either.I’ve always wondered about the appeal of the Hershey bar. Growing up in Germany, I did not know about the Hershey bar until I read Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums. That created an almost mythical idea in my mind. Imagine my disappointment when I first tasted one. It was such a let down. Compared to Milka, Sarotti, Ritter Sport, the Hershey bar tasted gritty and waxy. Not enough conching, not enough cocoa and cocoa butter.
When the dark chocolate craze hit in 2000, Hershey tried to reposition itself and create fancy chocolate bars with made from single origin cocoa beans – Hershey’s Cacao Reserve. The packaging and the wording are fancy but the chocolate does not taste any better. The 35% milk tastes sticky and sour while the 65% has no subtlety at all. As U.S. chocolate tastes mature, Hershey seems behind the time. One can barely imagine how bad it will taste once they are permitted to substitute vegetable fat for cocoa butter.No wonder, then, that the company performs poorly.
Nigeria and the EU
Once upon a time, the European Union dealt with its former colonies (the so-called ACP [African Caribbean Pacific] countries) through the mechanism of the four Lomé Agreements. These provided for non-reciprocal trade relations. The ACP countries were given duty-free access to EU markets (with important exceptions), but they did not have to offer similar concessions to the EU goods. More importantly, through STABEX, the EU provided additional funds that helped ACP countries whose earnings from the exports of primary commodities (like cocoa) dropped due to price fluctuations. Continue reading “Nigeria and the EU”
