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Kuapa Kokoo Summary
One of the world's first fair trade-certified, farmer-owned organizations, Kuapa Kokoo, is the majority shareholder in its own chocolate company. It is now the world's largest supplier of fair trade-certified chocolate, and with 45,000 cocoa growers, Ghana's largest farmer cooperative. Because of its power in numbers, Kuapa Kokoo has the strength to "mobilize and motivate its stakeholders to produce and market quality cocoa and cocoa products, improve members’ livelihood, and satisfy consumers,” notes Paul “PCK” Buah, president of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union. Its growers come from 1,300 village-based societies based in five out of the six major cocoa producing regions of Ghana. A typical Kuapa Kokoo farm is between 1-20 acres, is worked mostly by hand, and the average grower is 40 years old. Under the company's guidelines, these members own 100% of Kuapa Kokoo.
The Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union (KKU or KKFU) represents all of Kuapa Kokoo’s cocoa farmers, creates opportunities for women farmers, and promotes sustainable agricultural practices. “The vision of our cooperative is to become a leading, caring, efficient farmer-based organization and the most globally recognized cooperative in cocoa production and marketing,” says” Buah. In addition to the Union is its commercial wing, Kuapa Kokoo Limited (KKL), the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust (KKFT), and a trust fund which receives and distributes fair trade premiums and other funds for farmers and their communities. Kuapa Kokoo Credit Union (KKCU) enables members to access credit and to establish savings accounts.
“Our business is one hundred percent controlled locally,” says PCK. “Our farmers control what they produce and sell. This mode of operating allows us to control our own product and how it is marketed in order to optimize our profits and dividends, and through that, sustain our existence and survival.”
