Agroforestry and Cocoa in Ghana
TREES AND SUPPORTING PLANTS
HECTARES
FARMERS
TOTAL COMMUNITY MEMBER IMPACTED
HOST ORGANIZATION
Kuapa Kokoo
LOCATION
Offinso, Ghana
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Grow Ahead is partnering with Kuapa Kokoo in the Offinso Municipality of Ghana to plant trees in the Agroforestry and Cocoa in Ghana project. Kuapa Kokoo is a farmers’ cooperative organization and a farmers’ union of more than 100,000 smallholder coffee farmers across six cocoa growing regions in Ghana. They are a leading producer of ethical and fairtrade cocoa beans. The goal of Kuapa Kokoo’s agroforestry project is to reforest cocoa farms and farm lands to create microclimates, reducing the impact of climate change on cocoa farmers.
Planting cocoa in agroforestry or food-forest systems has a wide range of benefits from conserving biodiversity, strengthening soil health, microclimatic control, carbon sequestration, pest control, generating income for farmers through organic and fair trade product sales, and enhancing climate resiliency.
Farmers and rural communities are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change despite contributing significantly less to global emissions. Supporting farmer-led climate resiliency initiatives is essential so that they can protect the land and their community and continue to provide for their families. The Agroforestry and Cocoa in Ghana project will work with 2075 farmers across 25 communities in the Offinso municipality of Ghana. The project will raise and distribute 150,000 timber tree species and 30,000 fruits trees, reforesting 11,942 acres over the two year period of the project.
Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited (KKFU) is Ghana’s pioneer and the leading producer of ethical cocoa beans. KKFU is a cocoa farmers’ co-operative organization registered under the Co-operative Societies decree of 1968 (NLCD 252) and Co-operative Societies Regulations, 1968 (L.I. 604) as a co-operative Union in Ghana. The Union has over 100,000 registered members who are primarily smallholder cocoa farmers organized into about 2200 communities/Zones in 57 primary Societies (District) in six cocoa growing regions.
Kuapa Kokoo farmers union as a farmer based co-operative organization was formed in 1995 following the liberalization of Internal marketing of cocoa in 1993 with the formation of Kuapa Kokoo Limited( KKL) in Ghana with the aim to provide a medium for the social, economic and political empowerment of cocoa farmers and encourage environmentally sustainable cocoa production processes.
