Monrovia – The partnership between Wienco Agriculture and local cocoa farmers in Liberia moved to another level when the company donated four pick-up trucks to thousands of cocoa farmers in Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties to ease the constraints farmers face in transporting their products from farm to market.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
In addition, Wienco gave four moisture meters to the farmers to measure the moisture content of their cocoa bean to enable the farmers sell their cocoa at an improved quality.
At a turn over ceremony at Weinco’s Headquarters in Sinkor on Tuesday, October 31, the General Manager of Wienco, Patrick Vanbrakel noted that the vehicles will be used by farmers to, among other things, collect cocoa beans, distribute fertilizers and chemicals.
He called on the farmers to use the meters to measure moisture content of their bean to sell at improved quality.
“One of the big problems we have is transportation. Year in and year out we run in the same problem of primary evacuation wherein farmers take their beans to the community warehouses.”
“This year we tried to do it differently and give the farmers more responsibility, so we divided them into four clusters; Bong, Lofa, northern Nimba and southern Nimba.”
“We want to strengthen these clusters to carry out the business like professional farmers.”
“As a token of support, we are pleased today to hand over four wheel pick-up trucks to each of these clusters for them to pick up their beans for their various groups,” Vanbrakel averred.
Mr. Vanbrakel noted that since 2012, Wienco launched its Liberia branch and has form a robust partnership with farmers; supplying them with fertilizers, chemicals, spray, and giving credits to farmers.
The farmers through their cluster heads, Moses Juaquillane and Peter Diawon thanked Wienco for the donation and pledged to use them for the intended purpose.
They explained that the partnership with Wienco has been an immense success for them and called on the agriculture firm to continue with the support to benefit other farmers who have not been covered.
Also speaking the Wienco’s Country Manager, Sophia Ayorkor Koffie hailed the farmers for their resilience and pledged her entity’s commitment to supporting them.
“We have been working with the farmers for over five years.”
“They have their own challenges, yet they have their strengths.”
“We all know the general condition of the road network in Liberia. It is very terrible, especially when it is during the raining season.”
“So as a company, we have been trying all those while to see how in our own way to solve the problem with mobility,” she pledged.
The presentation ceremony was attended by major stakeholders in the agriculture sector including the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the Liberia Produce and Marketing Corporation (LPMC) and Grow among others.
The Intervention Manager of Grow, Janice-Love Sesay thanked Wienco for the intervention and called on the farmers to take ownership of the materials.
She disclosed that her entity is currently providing numerous supports to the cocoa farmers including the construction of warehouses in Nimba, provision of solar dryers and collaboration with LPMC to keep farmers informed with the prices of cocoa.
Wienco Agriculture is Dutch Company based in Ghana that is involved in partnering with cocoa farmers to supply them with fertilizers, chemical and other supplies in the form of credit; which farmers in turn paid with their products.