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The Story of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Fair Trade Cooperative

Learn about the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Fair Trade Cooperative, a grassroots movement in Ghana that empowers small-scale cocoa farmers and ensures fair prices and labor conditions. Discover how they established their own buying company and even started their own chocolate manufacturing company.

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The Story of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Fair Trade Cooperative

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  1. The Story of KuapaKokooFarmers Fair Trade Cooperative

  2. Tetteh Quarshie • Since then cocoa from Ghana has developed a global reputation for its quality and its taste. In 1879 a man from Ghana named Tetteh Quarshie first brought cocoa to Ghana from Equatorial Guinea.

  3. A main export Today cocoa is one of Ghana’s main exports. Ghana is the second largest exporter of cocoa in the world. Most of the cocoa is grown by small-scale family farmers on 4-5 acres of land.

  4. Risky business Cocoa farming is a risky business. • The cocoa price often dips too low for cocoa small-scale farmers to survive. The trees are vulnerable to various diseases and pests.

  5. Bounced Checks Farmers are often paid by local cocoa buyers using checks or vouchers, which the farmers then can’t cash, or which bounce.

  6. Control of the scale Farmers are often underpaid by local cocoa buyers using ‘fixed’ scales, set to show a lower reading than the actual weight of their cocoa beans.

  7. Voices not heard Their voices are not heard. • Farmers are often left out of the decision-making process.

  8. Solving the problem

  9. Nana Frimpong Abrebrese Nana Frimpong Abrebrese came to realize that ordinary farmers had the opportunity to organize farmers and address the problems farmers faced. A number of farmers, including a visionary farmer representative on the Ghana Cocoa Board took action.

  10. Their own buying company The company would be a Fair Trade cooperative that adhered to Fair Trade principles. The farmers set up a buying company that would be run by farmers and for their benefit.

  11. Fair Trade Principles Fair price: minimum floor price, an additional premium for certified organic products, pre-harvest credit. Fair labor conditions: safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited. Direct trade: importers purchase from producer groups eliminating middlemen who might cheat them. Democratic and transparent organizations: farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues. Community development: farmers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business projects that …. Environmental sustainability: Harmful chemicals are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable green farming methods

  12. Good cocoa growers These farmers pooled resources to set up a farmers' cooperative. The farmers named their Fair Trade company, Kuapa Kokoo. Kuapa Kokoo means “good cocoa growers.”

  13. Their own cooperative Kuapa Kokoo would buy and sell their cocoa beans, and thus manage the selling process more efficiently than the government cocoa agents.

  14. A Fair Scale Kaupaa set up its own scale.

  15. Village Recorder Kuapa put power over the scales in the hands of farmers by making sure that each village not only had its own scale but the village elected a clerk or village recorder.

  16. The Cooperative As people realized the Kaupa scales were fair and there was no cheating, more farmers joined the cooperative. Today more than 1,000 farmers make up the Kaupa Kokoo cooperative.

  17. Kaupa’s Mission Kaupa seeks to empower farmers in their efforts to gain a dignified livelihood. To increase women's participation in all of Kuapa's activities To develop environmentally friendly cultivation of cocoa.

  18. Greater Benefits Through its commitment to Fair Trade and sale of cocoa to the Fair Trade market, Kuapa Kokoo is able to return greater benefits to cocoa farmers. Its membership is still growing.

  19. Chocolate company of their own! In 1997, at their annual general meeting, the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo voted to set up a manufacturing company that would make and sell chocolate bars.

  20. Divine Chocolate Company is born With investment from The Body Shop and Twin Trading, and support from Comic Relief and Christian Aid, Divine Chocolate was born.

  21. Divine Chocolate in DC The owners of the Culture Shop in DC speak with Comfort Kumeah of Kuapa Kokoo  In 2007 Divine Chocolate launched a company in the USA based in Washington DC

  22. Buy Fair Trade • You can help improve the lives of farmers and their families by buying Fair Trade Chocolate!

  23. The End

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