PBC, Touton pay bonus to cocoa farmers

A partnership between the Produce Buying Company Limited (PBC), a leading licenced cocoa-buying company in the country, and Touton SA -- an external cocoa trading company based in Bordeaux -- has yielded positive results.

 

As part of the partnership, Touton has paid GH₵2,959,200 to PBC as bonus premium for certified cocoa beans bought in the 2013/14 season from 11, 277 certified farmers in Ashanti -- New Edubiase, Nkawie, Offinso, Juaso; and Brong Ahafo -- Sunyani, Goaso and Kasapin which are under the UTz certification. 

Touton works with PBC and Solidaridad training and ensuring that farmers adhere to the stringent certification standards to produce certified beans under UTz certification standard. 

Touton, as the leading world cocoa trading company, teamed up 4 years ago with PBC and Solidaridad on cocoa sustainability through certification.  PBC is the main LBC in the country, buying roughly 37% of the Ghanaian cocoa production. 

Solidaridad provides technical skills to field officers of PBC, the licenced buying company under this project, on requirements of the certification standard. 

The field officers further train farmers in Good Agronomic Practices in cocoa farming, protection of the environment, social responsiveness, health and safety, record-keeping and professionalisation of farming activities. 

The organisation partners Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to provide extension support to farmers. They are actively supporting farmers’ capacity building through well-received training and strong monitoring on the field. 

Touton and PBC are distributing motorised spraying machines, cutlasses, Wellington boots, and cash bonuses as an incentive to farmers for producing certified cocoa beans. 

Activities implemented so far include increased farmers’ capacity on good agricultural practices, good business practices, good labour practices, and good environmental practices. Regular monitoring is also done by dedicated field officers. 

Touton and its partners have also delivered other equipment and materials to support farmers. Notable among them is included the provision of 29,000 shade-trees distributed, and 410 units of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to trained and structured spray-teams. 

Touton and PBC global sustainable approach aims at tackling various issues that are threatening, cocoa communities to improve their livelihoods; and on the other hand, more globally, the cocoa industry in Ghana. 

The two also delivers services to tackle primary needs such as access to health, access to water or education through a partnership with Ministry of Health to build and set up Cheap Community Based Health Services in several districts, in order to facilitate easy access to health for remote communities. 

The collaboration wants to reinforce its effort to professionalise the farmers by moving them from traditional production systems to a strengthened cocoa business production model that will make the farmer more sustainable. 

Through this approach, farmers should be considered as cocoa producers and not as cocoa farmers any more. 

This new step will bring on board several services to increase the farmers’ productivity by 1,000kg/ha through providing training and support on good agricultural practices, good business practices, on access to COCOBOD’s approved inputs with more officers on the field.

To complete these programmes, certification and professionlisation of the farmers and a child labour comprehensive approach will be implemented -- supporting the cocoa communities to avoid children not attending school because of labour duties, or exploited in undertaking the worst forms of child labour. 

Both partners have incorporated sustainability as a core principle of their business model. Together, the companies are taking concrete steps to improve livelihoods of the farmers to sustain the cocoa supply chain in the country.