Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Cocoa Farmers Can Help Manufacturers Reduce Their Carbon Footprint but Need Incentives to do so.

Category : Uncategorized

Cocoa Farmers Can Help Manufacturers Reduce Their Carbon Footprint but Need Incentives to do so. 

Mr. Jack Steijn, co-founder of Equipoise and organizer of the Chocoa Conference in the Netherlands, wrote an article titled: Can Cocoa Farmers Live From the Air? He starts off by writing that many people are becoming more and more sensitive to the carbon footprint of the products they use, and many are changing their consumption habits and opt as much as possible for products with the lowest footprints. He goes on to say that some industries have committed to being carbon neutral or even carbon negative. In order to meet this objective, he writes, ‘the industry will reduce their own emissions and buy credits to cover for the part they can’t reduce. 

Mr. Steijn continues to provide several analyses and suggests solutions for ways the industry can meet its objective, which includes paying the farmers for carbon sequestration. My response to this is as follows:

As a cocoa farmer in Liberia, West Africa, Jack’s article resonates well with me. He has raised some important issues in this article and they are worth investigating. The farmers need incentives to encourage them to go even more carbon neutral and manufacturers should develop close relationships with the farmers. The two can work out ways for more carbon sequestrations. For example, the farmers could plant additional trees, use renewable energy and use organic fertilizer. The manufacturer could even set up shops on the farms for making the cocoa powder, which could use less energy.

I believe that if our carbon footprint were to be calculated on our young cocoa farm, 97.5 ha, we would bring a negative CFP to our buyer when calculating the life cycle of the end product, delicious chocolate! We have not used any machines or chemicals in our farming process. Yes, we did cut down some growth to plant the cocoa but one can argue that they have been replaced with cocoa trees, which are capturing carbon. If I, as a farmer, have the incentive to do so, I will keep finding new ideas that will lead to carbon sequestration. 


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Building A Nursery

We are not adding to our plantation of 120,000 cocoa trees this year. However, we are making a nursery of 30,000 seedlings to help small farmers. Many small farmers want to either expand their cocoa farms or make new ones but they can’t afford seedlings. We are giving them seedlings and providing training. They will repay us when they sell their cocoa years from now. We’ve had so much more demand than we can afford to supply. Hard to believe that some organizations are receiving millions of dollars to provide seedlings to farmers. None of the farmers we’ve spoken to have received any assistance nor do they know who has received this assistance. They are aware that these organizations are receiving money to provide help but they know of no farmers who have been beneficiaries.


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GROW Liberia and LUSH Cosmetics Visit the Farm

These fine gentlemen graced EbJel Flomo Legacy Farm on November 21, 2019. It is important to see the human side of farmers whose purpose is to do their best to produce the best cocoa in West Africa. Establishing relationships is key as we look forward to creating partnerships with those who take an interest in our organic cocoa beans. The cocoa farm is vast and the representatives enjoyed the journey. They retired for the night at our EJ Flomo Guest House. We would like to thank them for their time and their expressions of excitement over what they have seen.


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Hotel Construction in Rural Liberia: It’s Not Easy

Carrying out construction in Liberia is no easy feat. The task is made even more difficult when the construction is being carried out outside of the capital city (Monrovia) where most construction materials and equipment are located. Some of the factors contributing to the difficulties of constructing in Liberia are access to finances, the cost of the building materials and the lack of equipment/machines. In Zorzor, Lofa County, 170 miles outside of Monrovia, our work is hampered by the bad road conditions and the impossibility of transporting construction equipment even if we could afford to rent them. We rely on a lot of man power to do the work. While this is putting more people to work, which we proudly pursue, it is costing us a lot of money and taking a long time to complete the work. We will appreciate if costumers would recognize this and pay fair prices.

Workers began casting the third floor of our hotel today, November 16, 2019. They started at 5:30am and will continue until 10pm. The work is being done entirely by hand. Rocks and sand are appropriately measured in a wheelbarrow and poured on a a concrete slab for mixing. The appropriate amount of water is added and mixed. Workers use shovels to continuously stir the concrete until it is properly mixed. They then put the concrete in buckets and another group of workers take them to the foot of the building and tie them to the ropes hanging from the top. The workers on the top of the building, where the concrete is being poured, pull the rope, remove the buckets of concrete, pass them to other workers who dump them into the wire mesh on the platform. The buckets are passed back and down to the concrete mixers and the process starts all over again. This is tedious work and the engineer and workers doing this deserve a lot of respect. At the time when technological advances are spreading in every corner of the globe and being used by many, there are other places that lack access. It takes time, commitment and sacrifices to construct in remote places in Liberia.