ADM strengthens Ghana cocoa industry, socioeconomic efforts

CONTINUED strong partnerships with key stakeholders and important local initiatives mark ADM Cocoa’s fifth year of dedicated cocoa processing in the Ashanti Region.

ADM, a founding member of the World Cocoa Foundation, has spearheaded numerous programmes to speed up social improvement across the region. Its HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis health outreach programme, investments since 2011 has served more than 13,500 people in 67 communities. In the area of education, the company’s efforts in driving educational progress include training postsecondary students on agrilogistics at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and donating computers for the Kaase primary school.

The cocoa and chocolate expert has built a local supplier network encompassing more than 200 suppliers and created more than 250 jobs since opening its cocoa processing facility in Kumasi in 2009. Its 75,000-square-metre site now houses a bean warehouse, a processing plant, and a warehouse for finished goods.

As ADM enters another year in Ghana’s cocoa industry and to mark its fifth anniversary in the region, the firm is expanding its social improvement initiatives to cover health, education, and sustainability. Plans include donating for the construction of a mechanised water facility for the Asuhyiae Health Centre, which is situated in a cluster of cocoa-growing communities in the Ahafo Ano North District of the Ashanti region. The company also plans to donate to the Otumfuo Charity Foundation to support school refurbishment and sponsor awards for teachers in deprived communities.

According to plant manager John Scott Donkoh, the company has embedded all key operating principles - The ADM Way - best practice manufacturing processes and a ‘zero incident culture’ in terms of health and safety. This has helped in achieving zero lost work day cases in the first six years since construction started.

Dr F.K. Oppong, deputy chief executive (A&QC) at Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) said, “ADM’s socioeconomic contribution to the cocoa industry in Ghana, particularly in Kumasi, cannot be underestimated. We can only urge them to go beyond what they are already doing to improve the livelihood of both those living in cocoa-growing communities and Ghanaians ing general, to the benefit of all.”