Federated Commodities Limited (FEDCo), in partnership with Walter Matter and Valrhona SA, has constructed a six-unit classroom block with toilet facilities and a mechanised bore-hole for the Atwereboanda M/A Junior High School in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region, at a total cost of GH¢8885,882.

“FEDCo is a Licenced Cocoa Buying Company, and Valrhona SA is a company in France that buys cocoa produced from the Prestea Huni-Valley district through FEDCo and Cocobod, while Walter Matter is a registered cocoa buyer in Switzerland.”

Also, these companies have paid a total of GH¢520,000 as premiums to 1,100 cocoa farmers in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality. The premium is for 1,300metric tonnes of cocoa lifted under the traceable programme for the 2018/2019 cocoa season, and GH¢25 is paid on a bag of cocoa beans as premium.

The premium is the highest paid in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, Western Region and country as a whole.

Hajia Maria Adamu-Sibo, Managing Director of Federated Commodities Limited, speaking at the ceremony noted that the cocoa industry is going through a phase it has never seen before, in terms of the calibre of Licenced Buying Companies (LBCs) on the ground.

“Certification, traceability, digitisation of the supply chain or mobile money payment, among others, are creating transparency and fair deals to the farmer; the activities involved in cocoa farming are very tedious, and we praise our hardworking farmers for the efforts they put into producing the best cocoa beans in the world,” she said.

Therefore, she encouraged cocoa farmers to continue taking their time to work on their cocoa beans properly, so as to avoid reasons for supplying extra beans to the Purchasing Clerks (PCs) to make up for the loss in weight.

Also, she entreated PCs to desist from accepting cocoa that does not meet the specifications as defined by Ghana Cocobod, and appealed to District Managers to regularly check the scales of their PCs to ensure that they are properly calibrated.