Update from the Agroforestry and Cocoa in Ghana Project
Grow Ahead partnered with Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative in Ghana to plant 180,000 trees in the Agroforestry and Cocoa in Ghana Project in 2021 and 2022.
We had the opportunity to catch up with the folks at Kuapa Kokoo to get an update on the project’s implementation. Climate change and its adverse effects on cocoa production has become a serious issue for cocoa farmers.
Farmers in KKFU have been experiencing its effects as cocoa tree in once productive farm are dying as a result heat stress from prolong dryness and temperature increments. Kuapa Kokoo farmers have focused on the need to implement climate-resilient techniques to improve the outputs of cocoa farmers and support the long-term sustainability of farms. As part of the Grow Ahead Project, different timber trees and fruits trees were distributed to farmers to convert cocoa farms to biodiverse agroforestry systems and mitigate the harsh effects of climate change their cocoa production.
So far the Kuapa Kokoo has:
- Set up a Tree Nursery in the Ayenasusu zone.
- Led a nursery management training for 70 lead farmers.
- Raised 70,000 seedlings in the community nursery
- Held trainings for 1200 farmers on the need to avoid encroachment of protected lands/forest
- Mapped and reforested 300 farms
- Vistited 250 farms to monitor the growth of the supplied and planted trees for 2022. Farmers have seen an 80%+ survival rate for seedlings received and planted.
The project aims to be scalable by not only setting up the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative run nursery but training farmers to begin their own nurseries and expand the seedlings raised. After the training, 18 communities have been visited to meet and educate the farmers on the dangers of deforestation and ways to make their farms and surrounding land more resilient under the increasing pressures of climate change. About 1200 farmers (812 men and 388 women) took part in trainings on how to manage their farm properly to increase yield rather than encroaching other forest areas.
