Cocoa farmers in Ghana will for the first time have the opportunity to join their counterparts in Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon in a new competition to promote cocoa agroforestry.
The winner gets to undertake a trip to Cameroon to study best practices in cocoa production within an agroforestry ecosystem in September this year.
The African Cocoa Platform (AfCOP), organisers of the competition have in a statement said the competition in Ghana will take place from May to September.
It will award the two best Ghanaian cocoa agroforestry plantations or farms through the provision of incentives to ensure the continuous practice of Cocoa farming under agroforestry ecosystem environments.
Festus Kwame Kwadzokpo, AfCOP Ghana Focal Person, has confirmed to Cocoa Post, that the virtual launch of the novel competition will take place on May 10.
“The evaluation criteria for the selection of the best Cocoa agroforestry farms or plantations would be announced during the launch”, he added.
The competition will run in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana simultaneously.
AfCOP is a multi-stakeholder platform initiated in 2018 by Cocoa value chain actors from Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo to promote knowledge exchange, transfer of innovations and partnerships.
Its activities are funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ.
This system in cocoa production involves the incorporation of at least one additional species of a desirable tree on the farm or plantation to provide shade to the farm.