I have tears in my eyes. My head pounds. My heart aches.
You all may know how community development works… our cocoa sustainability program partnered with Mankrong (near Asuboi on Accra-Suhum road) in the year 2012. It’s been quite a remarkable uphill task but the interventions (good agricultural practices, environmental protection, enterprise growth, community infrastructure, financial independence, women empowerment, child protection etc etc) are yielding “applaudable” results.
For five years, we have made trees available for the community to plant as part of their forest restoration project. For nearly a decade, we have worked with the cocoa farmers, Ghana Cocoa Board, Solidaridad and our other partners to make cocoa cultivation an attractive business: the testimonies of doubling, tripling of yields are many…
So why do I have tears in my eyes with a pounding head and an aching heart?
The World Cocoa Foundation and most of its partners including us joined the people of Mankrong today to plant various tree species. Remember, it is Greening Ghana Day. The spectacle that met our eyes is one of vast swathes of farms and forests cleared! The trees that have been planted over the last five years gone along with well established farms and primary forests.
Note, community members are not part of this land devastation. They have pointed us to who is behind this. More anon; but suffice it to note that we cannot say one thing and do the opposite. People watch
See Photos Below
