Media staff trained in the Cocoa and Forests Initiative

Accra, July 19, GNA – Media Staff on
Thursday were trained in the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI), a program in progress
implemented by the main cocoa producing and producing countries with the aim of preserving
forests.

The CFI is a program that came into existence
governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast with 32 major producers of cocoa and chocolate
companies join forces to end deforestation and restore the forest
areas.

The workshop organized by Ecocare Ghana,
noted that the program, which started in 2017, focuses on forest protection
restoration, sustainable cocoa production and farmers' livelihoods, and
community involvement and social inclusion in the main cocoa production
countries.

Mr. Obed Owusu-Addai, Campaign Manager
at Ecocare Ghana in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said that both
Governments and major cocoa and chocolate companies signed the declaration
intend to London under the auspices of His Majesty Prince Charles, the
Prince of Wales.

He said that cocoa production led to the
the loss of huge forest reserves and identified as the main cause of
deforestation for the two main cocoa producing countries and therefore the
initiative put in place to mitigate the challenge.

He stated that the program's stakeholders
developed actions that will reduce the rate at which forest reserves have been exploited
destroyed in the name of cocoa production.

Mr. Owusu-Addai said that several interventions had
adopted by the parties involved in the program, including the provision of
seedlings to farmers and also ensuring that farmers benefit from the trees
that they feed on their farms.

He added that the FCI also sought to minimize the
excessive dependence on large farms, farmers always seeking to increase the size of their land.
farms by introducing seedlings and practices that would increase their yields
without necessarily increasing the size of the farm.

Ms. Glowen Kyei-Mensah, the program
Responsible for the Sustainable Trade Initiative, said in his presentation that
The statistics of the Redd + strategy have shown that in 2016, 66% of
the loss of forest was due to the conversion of food crops, of which 27%
due to the expansion of cocoa.

She said that the program, which started with
Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in 2017 expanded to Colombia in 2018, where cocoa
priority for Colombian agricultural growth, both for domestic development
consumption and international export.

She added that the program had become a
starting point of the roadmap for a cocoa without deforestation in Cameroon, a
process launched in January of this year.

Ms. Kyei-Mensah said that a framework for
This action was initially signed by 31 companies, the government of Côte d'Ivoire,
by the Ministry of Water and Forests and the Government of Ghana, through
Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

She said the frame had eight keys
commitments that included the prohibition and prevention of activities in the
cocoa sector causing or contributing to any deforestation or logging
degradation in national parks and reserves, forest reserves and
forests in the rural area, such as sacred forests;

She said that it also emphasized the respect for
the rights of cocoa farmers, including the identification and mitigation of social risks,
and sequencing the implementation of actions to minimize potential negative effects
social and economic impacts.

Mr. Vincent Awotwe-Pratt, country programs
Director of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and CFI, said cocoa and chocolate
companies had agreed to put in place action plans since the introduction of the
CFI, demonstrating their commitment to the program.

He has said so far 32 action plans of
equivalent of cocoa and chocolate had been prepared and that two other
would be added soon.

GNA