Thomas’ Story: A cocoa farmer’s agroforestry journey

We go to the ends of the earth to find the finest, ethically produced cocoa beans. That means asking questions like: Were sustainable farming practices used? What was the human impact on farmers and their communities?  And being fully transparent about the answers, because – as a many of us know – there are real challenges to address in the global cocoa industry.

Thomas Amoah, a cocoa farmer in Asankragwa Cooperative, one of the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cooperatives we source our Ghanian beans from, shares the challenges he was faced with when implementing sustainable agriculture practices.

Thomas' story

My name is Thomas Amoah, a cocoa farmer in Akokofe community in the Wassa Amenfi West district of the Western region. I double as the lead farmer and community facilitator of the Asankrangwa iMPACT Cooperative Cocoa Farmers’ Union.

I was born into a cocoa farming family and have been a farmer throughout my adult life. This 4-hectare land that I farm on now was handed over to me by my father. Like most of my colleague farmers, I learnt farming from my parents and through practice. All the knowledge that I started my farm with was from the lessons of my parents and from practice growing up.

Thomas Amoah, a cocoa farmer in Asankragwa Cooperative.

Planting trees on cocoa farms in Asankrangwa

In 2010, I decided to join the Asankrangwa iMPACT Certification Program during the sensitization in my community. The sensitization focused on sustainable agriculture. We were told there were various practices that farmers could implement to improve our productivity, protect the environment and ourselves. I could relate to most of the bad practices that farmers were implementing especially storing pesticides in our living quarters. What increased my interest most was the potential to increase my cocoa productivity per hectare and the potential numbers mentioned.

I was happy to implement all the practices except for the planting of trees. This was because of our bitter experience we had with timber companies. There were countless occasions when these companies would raid our farms and harvest the timber trees on them without us benefitting or without being compensated for the loss to our cocoa. The main excuse was that the government owned these trees and had been sold to the timber companies through concessions. In fact, most cases we would destroy these trees before they are big enough to be harvested. We received trainings that made us aware that we could own the planted trees. Another fear of planting trees was the rumour that trees would compete with our cocoa, encourage pest and diseases and make the cocoa unproductive. The certification requirements however recommended that trees are planted in cocoa farms.

As a Community Facilitator, I planted 170 trees in my 2 hectares to motivate other farmers to do same. Through this, most farmers planted shade trees on their cocoa farms. During the planting, we identified water courses, marginal lands and farm boundaries to plant some trees.

In 2018, it was all joy when through a pilot project my farmers were able to register their trees. All the 152 trees on my farm were registered to my name. I have been motivated by this to plant more trees on my farm. Currently I have 152 10–12-year-old shade trees on my farm.

Partnering with Rainforest Alliance to benefit people and planet

With the help of the Rainforest Alliance all our Ghanaian cocoa beans are now 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified™! The international non-profit organisation works with farming cooperatives to protect natural resources, ensure human rights are respected, and that farmers are paid fairly.

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