The next day, we visited a Farmer Field School. Basically the school teaches small scale farmers techniques for improving their farming yields. The one we visited was conducted in Mandingo, one of Liberia's fifteen languages, but many of the participants also spoke English. That day, farmers were learning about cocoa, but schools also teach farmers about rice and cassava.
During our visit, several participants took turns standing up and talking about last year's harvest. Unfortunately, each person's testimony was along the same lines:
"Last year, I only harvested 100 kilos. I carried on my head to Guinea, where I sold it for 80 Liberian Dollars per kilo."
Right now, 80 LD is about $1.20. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about cocoa, but I'd be willing to bet that Liberian farmers are neither growing the best quality nor getting the best price. A very quick Google search turned up this article about the cocoa industry in Trinidad, where farmers are earning $18.00 per kilo. Although not everyone was in attendance that day, the group consists of 30 farmers, including 7 women. For some reason, only the women spoke in Mandingo when they stood up, even though they seemed to understand some English.
"Last year, I only harvested 100 kilos. I carried on my head to Guinea, where I sold it for 80 Liberian Dollars per kilo."
Right now, 80 LD is about $1.20. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about cocoa, but I'd be willing to bet that Liberian farmers are neither growing the best quality nor getting the best price. A very quick Google search turned up this article about the cocoa industry in Trinidad, where farmers are earning $18.00 per kilo. Although not everyone was in attendance that day, the group consists of 30 farmers, including 7 women. For some reason, only the women spoke in Mandingo when they stood up, even though they seemed to understand some English.
Walking to Guinea probably takes these folks half a day, at least...with the cocoa ON THEIR HEADS.
More to come...
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