Short News

First harvest of cassava appears to be of high quality
May 12th 2008

The village of Sayerano – the first location where ISCOM initiated its activities in Ghana – has started harvesting four acres of cassava.
This is a real milestone in helping the cooperative of local farmers to make a real difference to their community. The main aim was producing more planting materials (free of infections) so that in the second round there will be 14 acres of cassava. Nonetheless, the first four acres also produce cassava: productivity and quality appear to be high.
The cassava will be processed into gari (which is popular food in Ghana). For this, the ISCOM project (supported y the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs) could provide the equipment to do this.

ISCOM Ghana established
May 12th 2008

Recently, ISCOM Ghana was established as a domestic NGO under the umbrella of the international ISCOM network. This is the second organisation in its kind, as before ISCOM Kenya was erected. The ISCOM activities in Ghana will be coordinated and managed by ISCOM Ghana, which has its office in Accra.

Bert Spenkelink is the official representative of ISCOM in Ghana while Samuel Barker is active as office manager. Several new investment projects have been submitted to financiers. As soon as financing is in place, the amount of work will grow rapidly. ISCOM Ghana wants to become a professional business network for the benefit of small-scale farmers and workers in a variety of locations in the country. ISCOM Ghana will continue to work with the Berea Social Foundation (BSF) in Takoradi.

Cameroon: Creation of the umbrella cooperative:‘UCOPROC’

 December 2007
The 10th of December was an important day for Upcocoa. It was the official day of the creation of the umbrella cooperative:‘UCOPROC’. “Union des Cooperatives de la Province du Centre”. This name was chosen by the cooperatives themselves. A more commercial name still needs to be chosen by them for the marketing of the cocoa on the international market.
47 out of 48 delegates (6 of each cooperative) were present on the 10th of December. After agreeing with the statutes the members of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory committee were democratically elected. As well as the president and the vice president of the Union.

Cameroon: Eight General Assemblies (GA’s)
November and December 2007

Photograph of members raising their hands.In November and December 2007 all eight cooperatives decided to join the Union.
The project coordinator of ISCOM represented all European partners as a witness at these GA’s. In their General Assembly the members of each cooperative selected six delegates to represent their cooperative in the General Assembly of the Union.
Before the farmers decided to join the union there was an informal meeting. In this informal meeting the objectives of the Upcocoa project were gone through and important elements in the statutes of the Union were explained and discussed: elements like the zero-loss policy, that all members of the cooperatives must be individuals, the process of harmonization of the statutes and the set up of accountancy systems.
All farmers had the possibility to ask questions to the Upcocoa representatives about the project. A lot of questions were asked and all became clearer to the farmer members present. With applause and raising hands it was clear that all members present agreed to join the Union.

Photocaption: Unanimous acceptation of the statutes of the UCOPROC