§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department is doing to support cocoa producers in Ghana. [66187]
§ Clare ShortDFID has provided a bank guarantee to secure finances for the Day Chocolate Company (33 per cent. owned by Kuapa Kokoo—a Ghanaian smallholder cocoa farmer's union). Our support aims to develop new opportunities for mainstreaming fair trade chocolate into the United Kingdom large-scale multiple retail market. The products are Divine, Darkly Divine and Dubble. This represents a major advance in fair trade marketing.
DFID is also supporting a substantial portfolio of research developing integrated pest management and biological control solutions for a variety of key cocoa pests and diseases. These technologies are particularly critical in view of the move towards organic productions.
543WWe are also supporting the Government of Ghana's (GoG) plans to improve rural infrastructure by installing steel bridges on feeder roads in rural areas of western and central regions—the main cocoa growing regions. Most of the current log bridges have deteriorated to the extent that they cannot carry loaded vehicles and, as a result, there is limited access to markets and social services. The goal of the project is to improve the livelihoods of the people living in the targeted areas by providing physical access, all year round, to markets, schools and hospitals/clinics. DFID has committed £8.5 million to this project and so far 28 bridges have been constructed, with a further 37 envisaged.