From cocoa farm to Master’s degree: Inside the Fairtrade story transforming Suhum’s cocoa communities

In the cocoa-growing town of Suhum, Ghana, the Asetenapa Cocoa Cooperative is showing what can happen when farmers have the tools, resources and opportunities to invest in stronger farms and communities.

For young farmer Felix Tetteh, that support has been personal. Once a secondary school graduate with limited options, Felix is now pursuing a master’s degree, a journey he attributes, in part, to opportunities made possible through Fairtrade.

His story, together with the work of the Productivity and Environmental Sustainability Officer, Dennis Attuah, offers a glimpse into how Fairtrade certification and the Fairtrade Premium are helping Asetenapa farmers strengthen their livelihoods, support young people and invest in their communities.

A Living Testimony

Felix Tetteh wears several hats at once: Compliance and Partnership Manager for the Asetenapa Cocoa Farmers Union, Fairtrade International Ambassador, and now a master's student. It's the last title that means the most to him, because of where he started.

"I was once a secondary school graduate with limited options," Tetteh says. "But now, through Fairtrade premium and some other incentives, I've been able to rise to a master's degree student."

He describes himself as "a living testimony of Fairtrade” not just because of his own trajectory, but because of what he has watched unfold across his community as a young leader within the cooperative.

"The benefit of Fairtrade is very enormous," he explains, "spanning from climate change intervention that helps farmers to be resilient to climate change, social intervention projects that support especially children, women and young people, and also community development that we use our premium to embark on."

The Work Behind the Impact

If Tetteh represents the outcome of Fairtrade's model, Dennis Attuah represents the machinery that makes it possible. As Productivity and Environmental Sustainability Officer for the Asetenapa Cocoa Cooperative, Attuah's job is to ensure that Fairtrade's standards translate into real, on-the-ground results for farmers.

"We work in partnership with Fairtrade," Attuah explains. "They are a certification body, and we follow all their standards on our farms."

His department focuses on a straightforward goal: helping farmers get good yields by following good agricultural practices. But in a sector facing a persistent labour shortage, that goal comes with real obstacles.

"We are facing a lot of challenges when it comes to labour," Attuah says. To address this, the cooperative runs a rural service centre staffed by a youth team who assist farmers with farm operations at subsidised prices, turning a labour gap into a youth employment opportunity.

Protecting the Crop and the Farmer

Attuah's team also plays a critical role in protecting the integrity of the cocoa itself. Left to source their own chemicals, many farmers turn to local markets for insecticides that can leave harmful residue in the cocoa.

"We make sure we advise them, and then they go for the recommended chemicals, which are certified by COCOBOD Ghana," Attuah says, underscoring the cooperative's role in keeping farmers compliant with national agricultural standards and their cocoa marketable on ethical, certified supply chains.

The Case for Joining a Cooperative

Both Tetteh and Attuah point to the same conclusion: farmers do better together. Attuah is direct about the advantage of cooperative membership.

"Being a farmer in Ghana, we advise you to join either a cooperative, a union, or a farmer group," he says. "Being part of such a body gives you various advantages."

For Asetenapa's members, that advantage is concrete. After drying and selling their beans, farmers receive a Fairtrade Premium.

That premium doesn't stop at individual households; it flows back into the community. Asetenapa has used Fairtrade Premium to build a three-unit kindergarten school for one of its communities, alongside continued investment in the rural service centre that helps farmers increase their yields.

Together, Tetteh and Attuah's accounts capture the full arc of Fairtrade's impact in Suhum from the technical work of sustainable farming and labour support, to the tangible premium payments and community infrastructure that follow, to the individual transformation of a young farmer now pursuing a master's degree.

"Make sure you purchase Fairtrade products," Tetteh urges consumers, "because the impact that goes into the livelihoods of farmers is enormous."

As Fairtrade Africa continues to champion a living income for cocoa farmers across the continent, stories like these from Asetenapa's farms are proof of what's possible when trade is done fairly and when cooperatives, certification standards, and committed farmers work in step.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.