Ghana – Page 3 – Michael Niemann

October 14, 2009

Ghana Cocoa Board Increases Producer Prices

Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor today announced the new cocoa producer price for the 2009-10 season. Farmers will receive GH¢2,208 ($1,511) per ton or GH¢138 ($94.50) per bag of cocoa. That’s a 35 percent increase over last year’s producer prices and about 71 percent of the FOB price of cocoa. With the current cocoa prices hovering around $3,300 per ton, I’m not sure how the 71 percent number was calculated. But the report indicated that the new price is the highest price ever paid to farmers.

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October 8, 2009

Ghana Cocoa Production Up

Ghana defied expectations and increased production for the cocoa year that ended on September 30. Despite smuggling and initially low deliveries, total cocoa production reached 703,000 tons, according to a report by the Ghana Broadcasting Company. This is the first time that Ghana has surpassed 700,000 tons.

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August 18, 2009

Kuapa Kokoo Holds 15th AGM

My favorite cocoa cooperative, the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in Ghana, just held its 15th annual general meeting. The AGM is the highest decision making body of the cooperative and many policies for the next year are set during the proceedings.

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July 27, 2009

Cadbury’s Fair Trade Bar Makes Its Debut

Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate Bars (Fair Trade)

After promising to source fairtrade beans for its flagship Dairy Milk bar, Cadbury made good. On July 21, the first Fairtrade Dairy Milk bars started coming off the production line in Bourneville. Within days, these bars will appear in shops all over the UK and Ireland. It’s the first time that a mainstream chocolate brand has switched to fairtrade.

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June 17, 2009

The State of Child Labor in Ghana

The International Cocoa Initiative has announced an independent evaluation of its activities in Ghana. According to the press release, the areas in which the ICI has been active have seen a reduction of the exposure of children to the worst forms of child labor. In addition, the foundation reports that attitudes towards child labor have changed.

Children, for example, are no longer involved in the spraying of chemicals. Since most spraying in Ghana is done by government employed spraying gangs, that seems to be a small achievement. A more common violation, the carrying of heavy loads is also down. Overall, that’s good news. But until the actual report is released in July, we won’t be able to assess the scope of this progress.

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