THE Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), through its Soul Cocoa Livelihood Project (SCLP), has successfully completed a two-days Cocoa Training Program at Aroaro Community in Central Guadalcanal.
The training was held at Aroaro Community in Upper Tenaru, Central Guadalcanal, on Wednesday, January 22, and Thursday, January 23, 2025.
The Training was conducted at the community’s request, addressing the needs of local Cocoa Farmers and new areas where ADRA SCLP is expanding its livelihood initiatives.
The Training focused on various key aspects of Cocoa Farming, including Cocoa pruning and grafting techniques, Site and Seed selection, Identification of high-quality Cocoa seedlings, Baseline and lining methods, Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM) demonstrations, Nursery establishment, The history of Cocoa and Cocoa production statistics in the Solomon Islands
The program was funded by ADRA Australia through SCLP, with Robert Waisu, a private cocoa consultant, facilitating the sessions.
Approximately 45 Cocoa Farmers included Female Cocoa Farmers, both new and existing Cocoa Farmers, from the Aroaro-Pao Community participated in the training. During the training, ADRA further distributed 20-liter water containers donated by Solomon Water and the polybags to each Farmer to support their Cocoa Farming efforts. Also, two female Bachelor Agriculture final year SINU students attended the training as part of their work attachment.
During the closing ceremony, ADRA Country Director Leyn Elizer Gantare expressed his gratitude to the local government and the collaboration and participants for their active involvements.
“ADRA staff are happy to be here, and their hearts are with you, the Cocoa Farmers in this community’’
“Our team will continue visiting you and working alongside with you as you apply what you’ve learned today,’’Mr Gantare said.
He encouraged the Farmers to implement the knowledge they gained from the training.
“I challenge you to go back and apply what you’ve learned to your Cocoa plantations. If you take care of your cocoa, the Cocoa will take care of you’’
‘’However, if you fail to implement this knowledge, the training will become meaningless,’’ADRA CD told the Farmers.
Meanwhile Mary Filotea, a female Cocoa Farmer who attended the training, expressed her gratitude and thanks to ADRA for the free cocoa training.
“This training has given me more knowledge on how to properly plant and harvest Cocoa, even as an experienced Farmer’’
“I now understand better techniques, and I thank ADRA for bringing this training to our community for free, ’Ms Filotea said during an interview with ADRA Comms team.
Tribal Chief John Batisia of the Aroaro Community described the training as a significant blessing:
“This is a great opportunity for our community because it’s the first time ADRA has come here to provide such training’’
“We are very grateful to ADRA Australia and SCLP for funding this training for our Cocoa Farmers to boost our Farmers and increase our Cocoa knowledge, ’Chief Batisha said.
SCLP aimed to increase the income derived from Cocoa livelihoods in the target communities and to improve their social capital and resilience by removing barriers and targeting the issues currently affecting Cocoa Farmers. Firstly, it will work with Farmer Groups to improve the yield and production of established trees through techniques such as radical pruning, tree thinning and building the health of the soil that the trees are planted in. It will also teach these farmer groups specific propagation techniques and why paying attention to the genetic variations of the trees is important. Having a knowledge of disease and pest management will also have an impact on the yields that Farmers will be able to achieve.
Source: ADRA Media
