Cocoa has always grown in many parts of the African tropics. Africa produces well over 65 percent of the world’s cocoa. CocoaLink connects farmers.

Many African countries grow cocoa and CocoaLink is helping to produce better crops and higher incomes. Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Congo grow cocoa trees but the main producers are Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire with the help of CocoaLink.

Cocoa has always grown in many parts of the African tropics. The cacao-tree grows wild in the forests of tropical regions growing well in humid tropical climates with regular rains and a short dry season. Africa produces well over 65 percent of the world’s cocoa. CocoaLink connects African cocoa farmers with information about good farming practices.

Everybody loves chocolate, CocoaLink helping Cocoa Tree farmers in Ghana

Cocoa is used to make the world’s most beloved sweet treat, chocolate. Most African Cocoa farmers sell their cocoa harvest to an intermediary in similar conditions of a tenant farmer and sharecropper. 

Cocoa was first planted in Ghana, in 1879 and as in the rest of West Africa; cocoa is grown almost entirely on small farms where labors work the land.  Cocoa farming on this level in Africa ingenuous planting techniques of cocoa trees makes modernization impractical. 

However, a new mobile phone technology, Cocoa-Link connects cocoa farmers with information about good farming practices. Cocoa-Link delivers information by text and voice-mail to cocoa farmers in 15 communities in Western Ghana.

There are three broad types of cocoa forastero and crillo plus trinitario. Forastero is the major portion of all cocoa grown, amelonado is a forastero variety most widely grown in West Africa and other regions. The peak time for harvesting Cocoa trees is between September and December in West Africa.

The Ghanaian government sets the price for how much farmers are paid for a bag of cocoa beans. Farmers get around $57 for a bag of cocoa beans weighing about 140 pounds. However, farmers state fertilizer prices have raised sharply over the past few years.

The next time you have a chocolate craving or you give a gift for a special occasion to your sweetheart, chances are that piece of chocolate originated from Africa. However if you or your sweetheart crave chocolate and you want to keep a clear conscience, look for fair trade chocolates. 

On their website, Fair Trade states “Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers receive a fair price, allows farmers to invest in techniques that bring out the flavors of the region, and strictly prohibits slave and child labor.”

CocoaLink is sponsored by The Hershey Company, the Ghana Cocoa Board and the World Cocoa Foundation. According to Hershey’s “CocoaLink connects cocoa farmers with important information about improving farming practices, farm safety, child labor, health, crop disease prevention, post-harvest production and crop marketing.  

The program launched with its first message to Ghanaian farmers in July 2011 is now the largest mobile farmer technology program of its kind. Working with many on-the-ground partners, CocoaLink is on track to reach 25,000 farmers by the end of the 2011 year.”

The African Government of Ghana promised to reduce forest loss and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent in the cocoa tree farming by 2030. Ghana is one of the first cocoa growing African countries joining in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility program and Cocoa Forest Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Program to reduce Ghana’s cocoa deforestation and forest destruction while increasing cocoa tree yields.

Did you know? Swiss commodities trading group ECOM formerly Armajaro Trading is a supplier of commodities to chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey’s. Based in Hershey, PA, The Hershey Company produces chocolates and other snacks. ECOM is among the top five merchants in cocoa.

Explore more cocoa stories in the Chocolate Hub .

Hibiscus tea or Karkaday in Egypt is a red hibiscus flower tea high in vitamin C. The hibiscus plant flower is used to make the tea by steeping dried hibiscus flowers.

How to make Hibiscus tea,  you might ask, well just brew like regular tea. Tea made of hibiscus flowers has many health benefits and is known by many names in Africa, bissap in Senegal, and in Ghana, soobolo.

Egyptian Karkaday Hibiscus Tea Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup dried hibiscus flowers

3 cups high-quality water

Sugar optional

Directions

In a pot that has a tea diffuser add dried hibiscus. Pour water over the hibiscus. Wait for the hibiscus to infuse turning a beautiful red color, the time depends on your taste, longer brews for a richer taste, shorter for a lighter taste.

About drying roselle hibiscus flowers.

Roselle or Hibiscus sabdariffa is a species of Hibiscus that have have edible calyxes that can be dried and used for tea. To dry hibiscus flowers first clip off the flowers. Remove the petals from the calyxes and spread out to dry on a rack and place in indirect sunlight. You can also use a dehydrator to dry the calyxes. When they are completely dry, remove the seeds from the inside of each calyx and store in a cool dry place. 

More economical easy lunch and dinner recipes to make right now so you never have to eat or prepare a boring meal again.

1. Curried Tanzanian Coconut Okra Recipe
2. Yedoro Stir Fried Ethiopian Chicken Dinner
3. Senegalese Chicken Vermicelli
4. Caldo Verde Portuguese Kale Soup
5. Air Fryer Black Eyed Pea Dumpling Stew

Soweto

Soweto was named from the first two letters of South Western Township. Soweto Uprising of 1976, Soweto Black South African high school students protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 that required black schoolchildren to learn reading, writing and math in Afrikaans primarily to train and fit black Africans for their role in apartheid workplace and society.

Soweto Uprising was over Zulu speaking Black South African schoolchildren taught reading, writing and math exclusively in the white Afrikaans language.

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

2-1-2010

June 16 marks the commemoration of National Youth Day in South Africa reflecting on the massacre of schoolchildren in the Soweto Uprising of 1976.

Soweto Uprising is the South African language of violent protests against the exclusive use of Afrikaans. Soweto Uprising official death toll was 23 South African schoolchildren.

The official languages of South Africa are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, and Tsonga.  In Soweto, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and Tsonga are the most widely spoken languages.

Zulu is the most widely spoken in South Africa as a whole and English is considered the lingua franca of South Africa meaning it is the language for government and education. Nonetheless, English is only the fifth most spoken language in South African households.  South Africa’s democratic Constitution of February 4, 1997, identifies all the official languages as having state guaranteed equal status. 

Soweto Protest Over Language

On April 30, 1976, students from the Orlando West Junior School in Soweto South Africa went on strike and boycotted classes. By June 16, the rebellion spread to other schools in Soweto. The students had organized a peaceful march against the Afrikaans Medium Decree, issued in 1974, which made it mandatory for Black schools to use the Afrikaans language as the medium of instruction in Mathematics, Social Sciences and Geography at the secondary school level. 

Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of the Bantu Education, was quoted as saying: “I have not consulted the African people on the language issue and I’m not going to. An African might find that ‘the big boss’ spoke only Afrikaans or spoke only English. It would be to his advantage to know both languages.”

The policy was deeply unpopular since Afrikaans was regarded by as the language of the tormenter. The incident triggered widespread violence not only in Soweto but also throughout South Africa. For the political organizations in exile, notably, the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the Soweto unrest in June 1976 provided an ideal opportunity both for recruitment and military training.

The official death toll was 23, but it could have been higher than 200 because the incident triggered widespread violence throughout South Africa, which claimed more lives. The first student to be shot on that fateful day was 15-year old Hastings Ndlovu. 

However, the killing in the same incident of Hector Pieterson, aged 12, and in particular the publication of his photograph taken by Sam Nzima, made him an international icon of the Soweto Uprising. 

The Soweto Uprising became the major rallying point of the struggle against apartheid. June 16 marks the commemoration of National Youth Day in South Africa. The country reflects on the massacre of schoolchildren during the Soweto Uprising of 1976.

Did you know?
Afrikaans language has its roots in Khoisan, Malaysian, French, Dutch, English and German among other languages.