A partnership between the Produce Buying Company Limited (PBC), a leading licenced cocoa-buying company in the country, some selected cocoa farmers and Touton SA, an external cocoa trading company based in Bordeaux, has yielded positive results according to Kojo Atta-Krah, Managing Director of PBC.

Under the programme, about 11,000 cocoa farmers from eight districts in the Ashanti and BrongAhafo Regions were taken through training, after which marketing clerks, lead farmers and auditors inspected the farms of beneficiaries to issue certification to those who complied with the agreed cocoa farming standards.

Speaking at a durbar at New Edubiase in the Ashanti Region, he said the company produced a total of 6,153 tonnes of certified cocoa, exceeding a projected 5,000 tonnes for last year as a result of the partnership.

Mr. Atta-Krahsaid Touton SA, as part of the agreement has paid US$537,306 as premium for the total beans produced last year -- from which US$232,600 will be given to the farmers in the form of direct cash and premium items which comprise 242 motorised sprayers and 6,050 pairs of Wellington boots.

The remaining US$302,706 will be used to run the certification programme as well as establish and maintain infrastructure to manage the programme.

The PBC-Touton Certification programme is aimed at improving the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in the selected districts by training them how to achieve certification using the required agricultural, environmental and social practices.

Beneficiary farmers will be able increase cocoa production and income, and handle agro-chemicals efficiently to mitigate associated health hazards, while ensuring maximum use of farmland to prevent deforestation.

Mr. Atta-Krah said due to the success of the programme, more farmers will be covered to undergo certification, and called on the partnering firm to seek markets for certified cocoa to meet its projection for the next two years.

He thanked the marketing clerks, district and regional managers, and documentation officers for their efforts to sustain the programme, and urged farmers to ensure that they abide by the requisite standards in order to increase yields and their premium income.