The Ghana Co-operative Council has held their 2nd Annual General Meeting in the Greater Accra, the capital of Ghana with a call on cocoa farmers to embrace and adopt cooperatives model formation to strengthen the collective voice of smallholder farms in Ghana to promote resilience and unity.
The council used the occasion to sign an MOU with three of its members namely, The Ghana Cocoa Cooperative Association and Marketing Ltd, Credit Unions Association and the Transport Cooperatives Association to pilot and put to meaning cooperative principle six to further drive impact and growth among members.
The 2nd Annual General Meeting brought together over 60 farmers cooperatives, Unions and partners within the cocoa value chain.
Presentation
Updating Co-operative members and partners on their performance for the year 2024, Dr. Bernad Bingab, Board Chairman of the Ghana Cooperative Council explained that the 2024 Annual General Meeting was to reflect on the progress within the year and also celebrate the resilience and unity of cooperative movement in Ghana.
According to him, their previous Annual General Meeting faced a number of challenges that tested their resolve as a council and a movement.
“Together we recognized the urgent need to strengthen our supra-apex body, reduce reliance on our donor partners and government and build a sustainable future.
“We have established a development fund with each society contributing GH ₵200.00, the fund will serve as a cornerstone for cooperative education, training, development and support for distressed cooperatives as well as meet our national and international obligations.
“Let me use this opportunity to announce that majority of our affiliates have fulfilled their commitment with approximately GH ₵60,000.00 in our development fund account.
“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Ghana Co-operatives Credit Union Association for paying our affiliation fee last year, 2023 and to Bia West Cocoa Co-operative Union for their continues support.
“With the support of AGRITERRA, the council conducted a pilot study to explore interlinkages among transport, financial and agricultural cooperatives; our goal is to harness collaboration to create jobs, alleviate poverty and strengthen our economy; I am thrilled to announce that after our extensive stakeholder engagement, we are set to sign a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to kick-start this initiative and we are honored to welcome a newly formed apex cocoa cooperative to our council.
“Together we will continue to build a thriving cooperative movement that uplifts our members and contributes to the prosperity of our nation” he said.
Mr. Kofi Kutame, Former Retired Ag. Registrar of Co-operative Societies at the Dept. Of Cooperatives Ghana explained that Ghana Co-operative Council is focusing on the agricultural cooperative sector and the linkages that could be created between them and financial and transport cooperatives using the Sixth Cooperative Principle.
“Co-operatives are better together. By working together, co-operatives gain the expertise, scale, and support necessary to heighten awareness, sustainability, and impact, especially where fixed costs and resources can be shared.
“Let me state that within six months, if all goes well, the cooperatives should be ready to take their first loans from the credit union.
“The officers of the Department of Cooperatives, the Ghana Cooperatives Council and the local cocoa extension officer could partner with the credit union to provide some of the needed technical knowledge.
“The pilot could run for two years and then a review could be organized to gather lessons learnt for possible upscaling” he said.
Motivation
Country Representative for Agriterra in Ghana, Mrs. Habiba Nyarko Agyemang mentioned that their motivation at Agriterra is to support and empower cocoa cooperatives to better position themselves in the cocoa value chain through strategic and data driven advocacy for their members needs and sustainable business development in order to become sparring partners for sustainable and inclusive development, and economic empowerment.
“Agriterra’s goal is to support Farmer Organizations in increasing their purchasing and selling pricing power of their member farmers, create a united voice for policymakers and establish agri-services that offer competitive market solutions to their member farmers, making cooperatives advocates for farmer needs, creators of job opportunities and fully-fledged professional businesses for sustainable economic development.
“We at Agriterra believe that farmer cooperatives can achieve significant impact when adequately guided by the cooperative principles” she said.
Appreciation
The leaders of the farmer groups used the opportunity to thank the Ghana Co-operative Council, Agriterra, Watergate and Solidaridad for their technical support which has resulted in a three year strategic plan for the establishment of an interconnected cooperative.
“We also want to send a special thanks to Department of Cooperative for their technical support, which has been instrumental in our success; together, we will build a brighter and more prosperous farmer future” said Issifu Issaka, National President of the Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers Association.
Present at the 2nd Annual General Meeting were officials from Cocoa Health and Extension Division, The Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP), Department of Co-operatives, Fair Trade Africa, Fair Trade Ghana, Agriterra, Solidaridad, SOCODEVI and various Cocoa Farmers.
Story by:
Nana Yaw Reuben
