Imagine.
You’re a new cocoa farmer, like Turkson. You’ve registered to get free seedlings from the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
You probably would wish for the seedlings to be delivered to your farm. But that’s not the case.
COCOBOD gives free seedlings. But the institution doesn’t bring the seedlings to your farm. Instead, this happens:
Each year, the Seed Production Division (SPD) of COCOBOD sets up nurseries across Ghana to serve farmers within a certain radius.
On distribution days (May-July), registered farmers go to the nursery, with their own means of transport, to pick up their seedlings. Lucky are those whose farms are closest to the distribution point, for their stress is less.
Osenase, where Turkson went for his seedlings, is 9.5 km from Akanteng. A taxi gets you there in 18 minutes. But a taxi can’t carry over 900 cocoa seedlings. Like most farmers, the young man had one option: hire a tricycle.
Getting a Tricycle to fetch the seedlings
That Monday, Turkson arrived early at Akanteng. The 111km trip had exhausted him. But as soon as he arrived, he got ready to return to Osenase with his tricycle rider.
He waited.
“I waited the whole day. He never showed up.”
It turned out the tricycle rider was overbooked, something he didn’t tell Turkson. That Monday, the new cocoa farmer watched the same tricycle rider he had booked convey cocoa seedlings for other farmers.
“I felt really bad. If I had my own tricycle, that wouldn’t have happened. It prompted me to try and get my own tricycle.”
With no backup, he had to find an alternative. But he had to hurry. “That day I wasn’t comfortable at all. I was worried I would miss out on the seedlings if I was late.”
On Tuesday – second day of seedling distribution – Turkson still couldn’t get a tricycle rider at Akanteng. He had to wait until about 11 AM for a rider friend to confirm helping him out with the transportation.
When the tricycle arrived, it was about 1 PM. They got to Osenase at about 2PM.
From distribution centre to the house
It was a huge crowd. “Many farmers were busily packing their seedlings into their tricycles. Those with no vehicles were negotiating for space in other people’s tricycles.”
The first thing Turkson did was to report to the officers in charge of the distribution. “They inspect your National ID card, then verify from their records if you have registered to get seedlings.”
Verifications complete, an official showed Turkson the seedlings allocated to him. He had to move over 900 seedlings from the nursery to his tricycle.
“That job wasn’t easy.” Because he delayed, the seedlings closest to the roadside were already gone. Now, a wide distance separated the remaining seedlings and his tricycle.
The officers gave him each a metallic bowl to convey his seedlings bit by bit, from the nursery to the tricycle. Back and forth he went, until over 900 cocoa seedlings were in the tricycle.
“It was tedious. But you know, if you’re determined to do cocoa farming, these are some of the dirty works you must do to get the job done.”
When he finished, it was almost 6 PM. But before he could leave, another farmer came begging.
He also came from Akanteng, but he had no tricycle to convey his seedlings. In the end, 400 cocoa seedlings were added to Turkson’s load, at a fee.
The extra load in Turkson’s tricycle meant he could not sit at back. He had to join another tricycle while his rider did a solo trip.
They finally got home, but it was too dark for another 4km-trip to the bush. “So, we offloaded the seedlings into an uncompleted building.”
His uncle advised him to make shade for the seedlings early the next morning. Direct sunlight would destroy the young and vulnerable seedlings.”
The young cocoa farmer was relieved to, finally, have his seedlings at home. But his troubles were far from over.
In the final seedling acquisition story, we’ll learn why it took Turkson another week to finally move his seedlings from the house to his waiting cocoa farm. Stay tuned!