Cocoa News & Articles

Ghanaian cocoa farmers to benefit from becoming UTZ CERTIFIED

26 February, 2010

Ghana will be the first country in the world to have a National Guidance Document for the UTZ CERTIFIED cocoa standard. A special workshop held in Accra earlier this week brought together key stakeholders in the Ghanaian cocoa sector to develop the guidance, and to discuss the opportunities created for the cocoa sector by this exciting new sustainability initiative.

The main purpose of the UTZ CERTIFIED initiative is to support cocoa farmers to implement good agricultural practices, leading to higher yields, better cocoa farming businesses and enhanced rural livelihoods.

UTZ CERTIFIED is a worldwide certification initiative that sets voluntary standards for responsible production and sourcing in coffee, cocoa, and tea. The UTZ CERTIFIED voluntary standard for Cocoa was developed with the cocoa sector. It sets out a number of economic, environmental and social factors, and requires intense training to bring cocoa farmers to the required level.

Through learning improved farming practices, quality and yield of cocoa beans will increase, resulting in better income for Ghanaian cocoa farmers and therefore bringing enhanced sustainability to the Ghanaian cocoa supply chain.

An increasing number of chocolate and cocoa companies are committing to cocoa certification initiatives, like UTZ CERTIFIED, seeing them as a key step on the path towards more sustainable cocoa production. MARS Inc., one of the largest global chocolate companies and a founding member of UTZ CERTIFIED, last year announced that they will source 100% of their cocoa from certified sources by 2020.

The objectives of the workshop, organised by West Africa Fair Fruit (WAFF), were to raise awareness about the UTZ CERTIFIED voluntary standard amongst the key cocoa industry stakeholders, and to create a “National Guidance Document” for Ghana.

The National Guidance Document will inform farmer associations, extension officers and others in the cocoa industry, on how the individual criteria within the standard are to be understood and implemented in a way that makes sense in Ghana.

The workshop was formally opened by the Acting Director of Research, Marketing and Evaluation at COCOBOD, Mr. Osei-Owusu, and the Chief Cocoa Farmer, Mr. Opoku Danso. Mr. Osei-Owusu welcomed the initiative, expressing his hope that voluntary standards like UTZ CERTIFIED will have a significant positive impact on cocoa farmers, and encouraging farmers to find out more about this opportunity.

Mr. Richard Perrin, Cocoa Programme Manager at WAFF (a Ghana based not-for-profit company), explained that WAFF plays a representation role for UTZ CERTIFIED in Ghana, supporting groups of Ghanaian cocoa farmers to work towards the UTZ CERTIFIED voluntary standard.

“UTZ CERTIFIED represents an opportunity for the Ghana cocoa sector to build on its existing reputation for high quality, by demonstrating the sector's commitment to enhance the sustainability of cocoa production.”

He added, “By encouraging cocoa farmers to improve their practices, both on and off the farm, certification initiatives like UTZ CERTIFIED support farmers to achieve higher yields, and to better the livelihoods of their families and communities.”

At the end of 2009, Cocoa Abrabopa Association, with support from WAFF, became the first cocoa farmers' association in Ghana to attain the UTZ CERTIFIED standard, with over 500 cocoa farmers successfully meeting the required level. In 2010, WAFF is continuing to support cocoa farmer groups across Ghana in their certification efforts, and by 2011, it is expected that over 4000 Ghanaian cocoa farmers will be UTZ CERTIFIED.

Over 100 participants took part in the UTZ CERTIFIED workshop, representing a wide range of stakeholders including COCOBOD, Government ministries and agencies, cocoa farmers and their associations, cocoa and chocolate companies, NGOs active in the cocoa sector, agrochemical companies and international guests from Indonesia, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Europe. The workshop was funded by Solidaridad - a Dutch NGO that promotes responsible trade.

By Ms. Brooke Nuwati