{"id":3766,"date":"2023-06-19T18:27:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T18:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=3766"},"modified":"2023-06-19T18:27:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T18:27:48","slug":"targeting-european-markets-nimba-farmers-eye-organic-cocoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2023\/06\/19\/targeting-european-markets-nimba-farmers-eye-organic-cocoa\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting European Markets, Nimba Farmers Eye \u2018Organic Cocoa\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: EU ambassadors pose for a picture with their entourage, a farmer of Monleh Enterprises at a farm in Saclepea, Nimba County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SACLEPEA, Nimba County \u2013 Farmers in Nimba are learning to produce high-quality cocoa beans to trade on markets of European Union (EU) countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 2,500 farmers are now being trained in organic cocoa production, according to Monleh Enterprises, a cooperative based in Saclepea, Nimba County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to link with markets [in Europe],\u201d said Rachel Mulbah, the CEO of Monleh Enterprises. She was speaking at the tour of the cooperative\u2019s facilities by EU ambassadors and their entourage in Saclepea recently.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonleh also wants to export in order for the farmers to get good [a] price,\u201d Mulbah said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organic cocoa refers to beans that meet sustainability standards required by the EU<\/a>. With emphasis on the health of people, the soil and the environment, the organic cocoa are grown without the use of fertilizers and pesticides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberia may not be a powerhouse of cocoa like Cote d\u2019Ivoire and Ghana. However, Liberia has a unique variety of the crop, something market experts say is a rarity on the global market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Queen of Liberian Cocoa Beans\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmers of Monleh Enterprises understand their niche and are getting there. It finished number one in a trade fair in Cote d\u2019Ivoire, according to Mulbah. It exported 12 metric tons of premium cocoa to Italy earlier this year, which had rejected its consignment last year, she said. Premium cocoa is of the best quality, too, but it does not have a certification program like organic cocoa.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rachel Mulbah, the CEO of Monleh Enterprises, which has some 3,500 farmers, 2,500 of whom have been trained to produce organic cocoa that can be sold in European Union countries. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Monleh farmers are getting their organic cocoa training from the NGO Grow Liberia as part of a\u00a0US$6 million<\/a>\u00a0project funded by Sweden. They learn good agriculture practices that avoid deforestation and the use of harmful chemicals and bad harvesting methods.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmers also learn to make their productions transparent and traceable, a pillar of the certified cocoa scheme of the EU, the world\u2019s largest cocoa market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulbah urged the EU ambassadors to provide more support to the group to achieve its organic paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to get modern equipment for farming, which, of course, will reduce child labor in Liberia,\u201d Mulbah said, handling the delegation a memo containing the requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonleh wants to develop its own nursery. Monleh wants to see farmers\u2019 lives improved,\u201d Mulbah added. Urban Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m, the Ambassador of Sweden, called her \u201cthe Queen of Liberian Cocoa Beans.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Charles Sackey, Grow Liberia\u2019s team leader, said the farmers were already producing organic cocoa, just that they do not have the certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with the farmers in Liberia, we have seen that there is little use of chemicals. So, the farms are, by default, organic,\u201d Sackey said as EU ambassadors viewed a solar drier for cocoa beans, a suspended platform with transparent plastic roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce you sell on the European market, you want to prove that it is organic, and not by default,\u201d Sackey added.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it stands, Liberia exported US$38 million cocoa in 2021<\/a>, the 21st<\/sup> largest cocoa-exporting country worldwide, according to the World Bank. The Netherlands is the biggest importer of Liberian cocoa, with US$19.2 million in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The head of the EU Delegation to Liberia Laurent Delahousse urged the farmers to work harder to maintain high standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to reassure you that your approach is our approach\u2026 We are addressing support problems to agriculture as supposed to food systems, and cocoa makes [a] wonderful food,\u201d Delahousse said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLiberia will not compete on big volumes of low-quality cocoa. Liberia can only compete on smaller volume of very high-quality cocoa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have a variety in this country that is unique, which gets a premium on the world market but you have to build your value chain from production to \u2026in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland and elsewhere,\u201d Delahousse added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other envoys on the tour include Jacob Haselhuber of Germany, Michael Roux of France, and Simon McCormack, the Second Secretary at the Embassy of Ireland.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A portion of a cocoa farm in Saclepea, Nimba County recently toured by European Union ambassadors. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue SACLEPEA, Nimba County \u2013 Farmers in Nimba are learning to produce high-quality cocoa beans to trade on markets of European Union (EU) countries.\u00a0 About 2,500 farmers are now being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,66],"tags":[1828,973,1827,1830,1831,1485,1829,1826,1671],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agriculture","category-farming","tag-certified-cocoa","tag-european-union","tag-german-embassy-in-liberia","tag-irish-embassy-in-liberia","tag-liberian-cocoa","tag-nimba-county","tag-organic-cocoa","tag-swedish-embassy-in-liberia","tag-the-european-union-delegation-to-liberia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Targeting European Markets, Nimba Farmers Eye \u2018Organic Cocoa\u2019 - The DayLight","description":"Top: EU ambassadors pose for a picture with their entourage, a farmer of Monleh Enterprises at a farm in Saclepea, Nimba County. 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