Proforest Opens Rural Service Centre For Ahafo Cocoa Farmers

Proforest officials with traditional leaders in a group photograph

Proforest has commissioned a new Rural Service Centre at Asumura in the Asunafo North Municipality of the Ahafo Region to support cocoa farmers in improving productivity, strengthening climate resilience and protecting forests.

Established under the Building Deforestation-free Climate Resilient Cocoa Landscape programme, with funding support from the Walmart Foundation, the centre will provide technical training, farm management services and a platform for community leadership and social and environmental governance.

The Asumura facility builds on Proforest’s first Rural Service Centre, commissioned at Dadiesoaba in the Asutifi South District in 2024. The facility provides technical training and farm management services to farmers and surrounding communities.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Asunafo North, Joseph Akparibo, said the project, being implemented under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP), aligned with the government’s Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda and its flagship Feed Ghana Programme.

He said Feed Ghana sought to increase productivity, strengthen food security, create jobs, supply raw materials to industry and connect farmers to markets.

Abraham Baffoe, Executive Director for Global and Africa at Proforest, said the initiative demonstrated that sustainable production, environmental protection and community development could be pursued together.

“Through our collective efforts, we are demonstrating that sustainable production, environmental stewardship, and community development can go hand in hand,” he said.

He called for continued collaboration to build a prosperous, climate-resilient and deforestation-free landscape for present and future generations.

Simon Hall, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Walmart Foundation, said the foundation was proud to support the initiative and looked forward to seeing how farmers and community members used the facility to advance sustainable cocoa production and local governance.

A Daily Guide report

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