Cocoa Livelihoods Program Steering Committee Meeting, October 19 and 20

Entry: Catherine Alston, World Cocoa Foundation Recently I returned from the Steering Committee meeting for the Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP), which took place in Accra, Ghana. The Cocoa Livelihoods Program strives to double the income of one-third of the West and Central African cocoa-farming households by increasing capacity building, improving marketing efficiency, increasing productivity and the cocoa quality at the farm level and expanding the farmers’ competitiveness on diversified cocoa farms. The Steering Committee is the governing body of the program and the representatives of the 12 company contributors, technical partners and national governments come together to ensure that this program will have a valuable impact on the lives of the farmers and encourages sustainable cocoa production. On the first day of the meetings, October 19, the Ghana Cocoa Board hosted a program launch for the CLP. During the launch interested parties in Ghana and the local press heard about the program from Bill Guyton, WCF President; Mbalo Ndiaye, CLP Director; Marina Morari, CSR Manager at Barry Callebaut; Richard Rogers of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah, Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board and Fifi Kwetey, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. Following the two-day meeting, the Steering Committee members joined the guest of IITA/STCP on a cocoa-farm field trip where we distinctly saw the differences that can be made by cocoa famers who properly use input supplies and maintain their trees as recommended by the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP). With the guidance of the Steering Committee and technical support from our partners such as IITA/STCP, the Cocoa Livelihoods program is sure to make a lasting and meaningful difference in the lives of the participating farmers.