The hope of farmers in Kponyansonyea Town, Salayea District, Lofa County have been revived.
The farmers have hoping against hope for a better future until 18 of them were selected to benefit from a new cocoa farming project. Each of the beneficiaries will receive 550 cocoa seedlings.
The project is supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The beneficiaries are from the community. They have prepared their farms as they wait for the distribution of cocoa seedlings.
Some of them said, the seedlings will any time soon. The new project comes after an earlier cocoa farming effort in the town faced challenges.
Edward Barkolleh said, IFAD provided the seedlings to residents in 2021, but were planted between 2021 and 2022.
However, many of the young cocoa plants later dried due to drought.
For that, Barkolleh blames inadequate training for the farmers on how to plant, and also care for the seedlings.
He said, training was eventually provided, but it came too late.
“The training came late when most of the cocoa that was planted had already died.”
The loss of the seedlings discouraged many of the farmers, but some of them had hoped for the cocoa farming to become a source of long-term income for their families.
Barkolleh said, the new project has given farmers another opportunity to try again.
He said farmers were also informed that seedlings that died will be replaced under the project.
