SEND Ghana calls for inclusion of PWDs in cocoa value chain

SEND Ghana, a subsidiary of SEND West Africa, has urged government to involve Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the cocoa value chain.It said COCOBOD must provide PWDs who are in the cocoa farming field with information to address their needs and for effective policy development.Reports indicates that cocoa farmers are being provided with the necessary demands but there are no data available that segregates farmers with disabilities.Mr Jewel Andoh, a Research Scientist, CSIR, said, the COCOBOD must have a database that identifies PWDs to target them for policy inclusion.He said the great initiatives by COCOBO were great but lacked identifying PWDs, adding that, there must be dialogues at the lower level to create some awareness among PWDs.He reiterated that the programmes implemented by COCOBOD must address the basic and strategic needs of PWDs.'Services that we provide, should go beyond just solving the basic needs of the people. We think that the assembly should ensure that annual action plan s and budgets are PWD-responsive. Which means that there is the need to do a thorough work', he emphasised.Dr Peter Obeng Asamoah, President of Ghana Blind Union (GBU), urged COCOBOD to acquire more information from the Ghana Federation of Disabilities (GFD) to ensure adequate information for data collection.He said dialogues must commence immediately from the district and local levels to be able to access PWDs in the cocoa industry, saying, social inclusion was important to be able to achieve the SDGs.He said the data collection would help Ghana secure investment form the international market, and appealed to COCOBOD, government and civil society organizations to support PWDs to thrive in the cocoa industry.He added that there must be accessibility of documentations by the COCOBOD, which should be made accessible for all PWDs, he said: 'even most governments websites are not designed to favor PWDs' which he said was not fair'.During a panel discussion, stakeholders shared their views on the fact th at even though PWDs dominated the cocoa production chain, they are not recognized.They suggested that education and training services provided by COCOBOD were so far proving to beresponsive to the basic and strategic needs of PWDs in cocoa farming, and must be sustained and replicated in education and health projects funded by the COCOBOD.The stakeholders further acknowledged the impact of education, training and cooperative building in the agriculture sector as a means to enhance PWDs access to financial services, land, and leadership positions.Source: Ghana News Agency