Ganta – Eighty persons have graduated from a 3-week Trainer of Trainers (TOT) workshop hosted by Solidaridad West Africa, Liberia for Farmers’ Field School Facilitators (FFSF).
The ceremony took place on Friday, February 22, 2019, in Ganta, Nimba County. Participants of the training were drawn from selected communities in Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties, where the Liberia Cocoa Sector Improvement Program (LICSIP) is being implemented. LICSIP is funded by the European Union in Liberia.
According to the lead trainer, 2 to 3 persons were designated by their various communities to be interviewed and tested by programme staff before selection.
Sylvanus Agordorku said after a robust vetting process, one person was selected from each community to form part of the training. “We trained them in several different aspects of cocoa production, including; nursery establishment and management, management of farmers’ field school, cocoa diseases and pest’s management, cocoa rehabilitation among others, he said.
He noted the facilitators will now return to their various communities to open up FFS and begin training other farmers on the best management practices for cocoa. “There are several cocoa farmers in these communities, but they don’t have the support in terms of information, knowledge and skills. We expect the facilitators to run the various schools for 10 months, teaching what we have been teaching them during the weeks of training. If we get this right, we will have enough farmers doing the right thing and before you know it, we will be producing quality cocoa and with the desired yields that will change the lives of the struggling farmers” he said.
The lead trainer also said the program will ensure that new plantings are done according to standard. This, he said, will produce cocoa with better quality and quantity and help change the livelihood of smallholder farmers in Liberia. “Follow ups will be made to ensure that our facilitators are doing the right thing at their various training schools”, he added.
In remarks, the Program Associate of Solidaridad West Africa, Liberia said cocoa was an important crop in West Africa, and Solidaridad has a strong presence in the value chain. Kefi Conteh said Ivory Coast and Ghana were driving the region in the production of the crop, but Liberia has a promising future, especially with the support of the European Union was giving through the LICSIP.
“Liberia, as a country, is presently contributing less than 1% of the cocoa coming out of the region. But the soils here are even better than some of the other places that are producing more. The LICSIP hopes to address this problem under our activity to improve farm-level production”, he said.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Jerry Wegee thanked the European Union and Solidaridad for the opportunity afforded them to acquire new skills. “Because of what you have done here during the last couple of weeks, we are fortified and now headed out to make cocoa farming better than what it is,” he said. Wegee, on behalf of his fellow colleagues, also promised to do all to make the dreams of growing better cocoa a reality before 2021.
Other partners including Wincko, CWAP, VENDEVCO and others were also present at the program, and made comments. LICSIP is a cocoa program funded by the European Union and implemented by the Liberia Country office of Solidaridad West Africa.