In the summer of 2020 I was privileged to have weekly Zoom meetings with cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire as part of the campaign to Keep KitKat Fairtrade. It was amazing to be able to speak to farmers direct (albeit through a French speaking translator) about their lives. I decided that I had to visit West Africa myself, where 70% of the world’s cocoa is grown.
So when I started working with Africaniwa - a group of women born in West Africa but based mainly in West Yorkshire - on their Chocolate Has A Name project, a plan formed. The project is designed to support the children of cocoa farmers to learn more about what happens to the cocoa beans once they leave the farm. We’re working with Ghanaian academics and experts, including the nutritionist for the Ghanaian men’s football team, to build a curriculum to explore the history, geography, politics, philosophy and economics of cocoa. But our first job was to set up a chocolate making workshop in our pilot school, Tarkwa Breman Girls School.
So I decided to travel to Ghana - to pay a visit to the school, and to take the opportunity to visit the Co-operative House at New Koforidua, Africa’s first fair trade town. The town is on the main road between Ghana’s two main cities - Accra and Kumasi - and surrounded by cocoa farms. It’s stunningly beautiful. The air is loud with the sounds of chickens, guinea fowl and goats playing under the large shade trees which are so essential to cocoa cultivation. The main road is flanked by colourful market stalls selling garden-fresh vegetables, millet porridge and grilled tilapia fish.
I met Frederick Gamor Wilson as he was coming out of church. He went home to change before taking me on a tour of his farm. He showed me the whole process from flower to pod, and let me try using a machete to break a pod open to show the pulpy white beans, which are incredibly sweet and delicious.. I helped with fermenting and drying the beans, processes which are affected by climate change. The cocoa harvest is usually in the dry season - September and October - but as rainfall is now more unpredictable drying the beans in particular, which takes a week, is more precarious. Frederick told me he can’t stray far from the farm in case there’s a downpour which can ruin the whole harvest. Seeing the effects of climate change first hand was a real eye opener.
Frederick and Samuel drying the cocoa beans on Frederick's Fairtrade certified farm in New Koforidua
The Co-operative house at New Koforidua is owned by the whole global fair trade movement and is designed as a haven for fair trade campaigners from around the world to spend time nestled at the heart of a cocoa growing community. Another plan formed. My driver and good friend Samuel Fianu and I started to think about how we could make it easier for fair trade campaigners to visit. All’s Fair Tours was born.
The Co-operative House - owned by the global fair trade community
We arranged to meet the Chief Nana Yaw Sarpong I and his elders to get his blessing for the project, which he happily gave us. We already knew one of the elders - our mutual friend Bruce Crowther MBE was enstooled as New Koforidua's Development Chief with the honorific Nana Kwadwo Osafo I in 2004. He was the instigator of the building of the house and as a full time chocolate maker he makes sure to only use beans from a named cocoa farmer from New Koforidua. When I explained about the project Bruce told me how proud he is that Samuel and I are realising his vision.
Nana Yaw Sarpong I and the sub-Chiefs of New Koforidua gave me a formal reception and Samuel and I explained our plans for All's Fair Tours. The Chief gave his blessing
As we left New Koforidua we weren't sure whether we would be able to visit Tarkwa Breman. There had been flash floods - another symptom of the unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change. When we arrived in Accra we discovered that the only way to the school would be via canoe. I had said from the start that I was only prepared to visit people in Ghana if I wasn't going to be a problem for them and making the school head teacher send a canoe for me was a good definition of causing a problem. Instead I decided to visit Golden Exotics banana farm and Nkyinkyim outdoor art gallery - which I will talk about in my next post.
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