Cargill has celebrated the establishment of its own licensed buying company, Cargill Kokoo Sourcing Limited in Ghana.

The new LBC has been fully operational since November 2016, and allows Cargill to directly source cocoa from certified farmers in Ghana for the first time, putting the farmer at the heart of the business.

So far over 25,000 farmers are registered, of which 9,000 are actively pursuing selling beans through Cargill’s LBC network.

Cargill already sources directly from farmers and farmer organisations in other countries.

The event held at the Labadi Beach Hotel was attended by a deputy Minister-designate for Trade and Industry, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah; a deputy Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, William Quaitoo; deputy Chief Executive of the COCOBOD in charge of Quality Control and Assurance, Dr. Adu Ampomah; Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ghana, H.E Ron Strikker; players in the cocoa sector and executives from Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business.

Farmers deliver their cocoa to community warehouses where their beans are digitally weighed in front of them, assigned a fully traceable bar code and funds are then transferred straight to the farmer’s phone or e-wallet using e-Money through partnerships with e-Zwich, MTM mobile Money and Tigo Mobil Money.

The revolutionary move to mobile money in Ghana adds assurance for the farmer, improves their ability to trade more effectively and eradicates all risks associated with cash payments.

Details of the beans are then recorded in a standardized management system before the beans are collected by larger trucks, which transfer them to central warehouses.

Through Cargill’s new bar code system, the company can now trace each individual bag of Ghanaian cocoa beans, sourced through the Cargill LBC, to the individual farm, creating a fully traceable supply chain down to farmer level for the first time in Ghana.

Lionel Soulard, Managing Director West-Africa Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate stated: “We strongly believe that this way of doing business is the future for cocoa farmers in Ghana. Mobile money is the first step towards improving incomes for farmers, as we build the infrastructure and capabilities for a more efficient and effective supply chain.

Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD said, “We are pleased to have worked with Cargill on such an innovative project, and this shows our continued partnership with Cargill grows from strength to strength. We see this model as the future of cocoa sourcing in our country.”