Cocoa farmers in Asumura in the Ahafo Region are to receive technical training and farm-management support closer to their communities following the opening of a Rural Service Centre by Proforest.
The centre is part of the Building Deforestation-free Climate Resilient Cocoa Landscape programme, funded by the Walmart Foundation. It is intended to help farmers improve their farming practices, cope with climate-related challenges and protect surrounding forests.
The facility will provide practical training and farm-management services. It will also give community leaders a platform to address social and environmental issues affecting the cocoa-growing landscape.
The Asumura centre follows a similar facility established by Proforest at Dadiesoaba in the Asutifi South District in 2024. That centre provides training and farm-management support to farmers and nearby communities.
Asunafo North Municipal Chief Executive Joseph Akparibo said the project aligned with the government’s Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda and the Feed Ghana Programme.
He said Feed Ghana sought to increase agricultural productivity, improve food security, create jobs, supply raw materials to industry and connect farmers to markets.
The project is also being implemented under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme, which seeks to link cocoa production with forest conservation.
For farmers, access to practical training and better farm-management advice could help improve yields and reduce the pressure to clear more land for cultivation. The centre’s work will also depend on whether farmers can apply what they learn and sustain those practices over time.
Abraham Baffoe, Proforest’s Executive Director for Global and Africa, said the initiative showed that cocoa production, environmental protection and community development could be pursued together.
Simon Hall, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Walmart Foundation, said the foundation looked forward to seeing farmers use the centre to support more sustainable cocoa production and communities use it to strengthen local governance of the landscape initiative.
The centre is expected to bring support closer to cocoa farmers in Asumura, while giving the community a role in decisions affecting land use and forest protection. Its impact will ultimately be measured by whether farmers improve their farming practices and livelihoods while helping to protect the forests around their communities.
