Ghana’s Latest Cocoa Farmer Talks about Motivation, Acquiring Land, Family Support, and new Learnings

Since high school, my friend Turkson Adzogbleh has thrived as an entrepreneur.

Combining his business acumen and a passion for problem-solving, he supported his parents – farmers – to fund his education, making him the first (and only) among five children to earn a degree.

Today, Turkson earns a salary as a Mathematics Teacher in Ghana’s Central Region. However, a teacher’s salary in Ghana is scarcely enough for a family with a new baby.

Driven to secure a prosperous future for his family, Turkson is naturally inclined to seek additional income.

But, cocoa farming?

I met with him on his new farm at Akyem Akanteng, a small town nested in a rainforest 101km northwest of Accra. We had ridden on his motorbike for 15 minutes through a hilly dirt road, then walked a little less than a kilometer to the farm.

The bamboo shaded us from the scorching sun while a nice breeze caressed our skin. The blend of bird songs textured the experience. It was lovely.

Our conversation was straight to the point.

What made you decide to go into cocoa farming?

Growing up, my parents were farmers. Even in my infancy, I used to follow them to the farm.

My father had a palm plantation, and my mother had several cocoa farms. So farming is something I have seen from my infancy.

I considered animal, fish, and cocoa farming. But putting certain things together, I decided to start with the cocoa farm.

So that is how the whole thing started. Farming is in the family and I just want to explore it.

How did you go about getting land? Was it easy?

Acquiring land for farming is somehow difficult, especially in this area where you find a lot of galamsey (illegal artisanal mining). So as I am speaking, I don’t have my own farmland.

This land is a family land. My grandfather acquired it and split it among his children, including my mother. My grandfather had three children, my two uncles and my mum.

My mother’s portion has been given to my big sister, the other uncle also gave his part to his daughter, and my realest uncle gave his portion to me.

Did you ever think you would enter farming or even into cocoa farming?

Yeah. Because I was in it from my infancy, it’s not new to me, you see?

I remember my father telling me that even if I become a professor, I should make sure I have a farm in addition to whatever I do.

He said if you do farming as part of your professional work, it will make you active. Also, if you work for the government, you will retire.

So if you have your farm, it’s a step in the right direction. One, it’s good for your health because of the physical activities involved. Also, when you retire, you’ll not be redundant.

This [cocoa farm] is not the only thing I’m going to do. But I am starting from here because I know that this one is going to be a success. So if the success comes, I will explore other aspects [of farming].

What lessons have you had to learn on this journey?

There are a lot of things I must learn. Even after clearing this land, there are some crops I’m supposed to plant before I bring my cocoa seedlings.

From the experts, I am supposed to burn the debris to access the bare land. I’m also supposed to plant plantain and cassava to give shade to the cocoa.

And you know what I sometimes do when I bring workers to the farm?

Some of them are farmers. So while we are clearing the land I ask them questions: “What do you think I should do to this place to make it good?”

One of them has even suggested that, due to the nature of my land, I plant sugar cane and other things because it will all do well here.

So I am in a learning process and I am sure that everything will go well.

Who in your life is supporting you to ensure your journey becomes a success?

Getting workers to clear the land has been very, very hectic. But by God’s grace, we have been able to clear this very big portion. It was tough to weed because it had been neglected for years.

So, back to your question, my father had a lot of friends before he passed away. So those friends who knew my father came in when I needed people to clear the land.

So even though I paid them, some of them came to support me because of their relationship with my father. So I have had a lot of support.

And my siblings have also been a great help to me in diverse ways to get to this level. Most of them have promised me that when the seedlings come, they’ll help me plant. So I’m just praying that they will honor their promise.

What was your mum’s reaction when she heard you wanted to start a cocoa farm?

She initially laughed.

You know, she never anticipated I would come one day telling her I wanted to go into farming. Me being a professional teacher, she thinks that my ability is always in the classroom.

But she marveled when I approached her that I wanted to enter into farming because that is what she has done from her infancy up to where she is now.

I’m sure she is also happy that you’re taking this step.

Yes! She calls me a professional farmer, even though I’ve not started farming!

And what was your wife’s response?

Oh, she supported me.

Even though she’s not into farming like that, she sees me to be somebody who does business and flourish. So whatever decision I took she supported me.

And I’m sure she will like it at the end of the day. And I’m also going to make sure I won’t disappoint her.

All the money that I’ve invested in this farm, I’ll make sure that it will not go away.

So how have you leveraged information technology as a young cocoa farmer?

Okay, as a young generation, we are privileged to have a lot of information on the internet.

Working on this cocoa farm, I’m not just going to use the local knowledge. I’m going to combine a lot of ideas from friends, from the Internet, and from all sources to help improve my farm.

I know the internet has a lot of things to offer to us the youth. It’s just that we do not see the value in it.

Information is there. If only you seek it, you will have it.

Tell us about your experience with money since you started this project. Is it killing your bank account?

It’s squeezing me, but because I am determined to do it, I don’t see it to be a wasteful expense.

You know, the problem our parents faced with farming was that they failed to write down any expenses they made on the farm. So at the end of the year, they could not tell the exact amount of money they made; whether they were making profits, breaking even, or incurring losses.

But as children of this generation, if we want to enter into farming, we are supposed to write down all expenses we incur. As I’m talking to you now, today marks exactly one week since we started clearing the land.

Sometimes I bring three workers, sometimes four workers, sometimes two. So I have a record of all expenses I have incurred from day one up to today. I’ll keep tracking all future expenses so that at the end of the day, I’ll compare the expenses to the income that comes to know whether I am making a profit or loss.

What would you say to young people out there who may be considering farming?

This thing all boils down to the mindset of the individual.

I think if you will be able to do [farming] and succeed, you have to get a positive mindset.

Farming is a very tedious job and if you don’t have that positive attitude, maybe you’ll go halfway and quit. So if you are really determined you can do it.

The problem with most of the youth these days is, they see farming as a kind of work meant for the poor people. But that’s not how it is. My parents were farmers, but they were able to cater for me up to the university. So if you don’t correct your mindset that you really, really want to do this, you’ll go halfway and quit.

My advice to the youth out there is that if you have a plot of land that is lying idle, you should turn into farmland. Not necessarily a cocoa farm. There are a lot of farming ideas that are out there. You can venture into it and then try to improve your life.

And I am sure that this decision I have taken is going to be a success story and it’s going to inspire someone.

Since this interview, Turkson has made progress on his cocoa farm, securing and planting seedlings and other shade crops. He is back to his teaching post about 70km away, in the Central Region. African Cocoa Stories will be back with updates on his journey.