A total of three (3) boreholes were constructed in 2020 with funding support from Hotel Chocolat.
Beneficiaries of the facilities are:
1. Behinase-Manhuntem community
2. Krakoo community
3. Newly established cocoa nursery site owned by Green Tropics Group
Hotel Chocolat, upon requests from the people of Behinase-Manhuntem and Krakoo, provided funding for the construction of a borehole in each of the communities. Their requests were channeled through Green Tropics Group (GTG)
A third borehole was constructed at a newly established nursery site for GTG.
Community Boreholes
Behinase-Manhuntem and Krakoo are two small cocoa-growing communities within the Nkawkaw Cocoa District (NCD) with a combined population of about 320. The two communities lacked access to clean and safe drinking water which affected the health, productivity, and quality of life generally of residents as well as non-residents who visit the communities on daily basis to undertake farming and other economic activities.
Testimonies shared by residents, the women especially, clearly attest to the fact that the facilities have brought great relief to beneficiary communities. They mentioned the following as some of the benefits of the facilities:
- reduction in the drudgery involved in walking long distances to fetch water, especially during the dry season when most of the nearby streams dry up
- reduction in the amount of time spent in finding water particularly during the dry season for domestic and agricultural use, thus freeing up time for productive work especially for the women
- reduction and prevention of water and sanitation-related diseases such as malaria, typhoid, dysentery and skin diseases.
- enhancement of educational opportunities for children especially girls who, before the provision of the facilities, spent a lot of time and effort to access and provide needed water to their households before going to school.
Borehole for GTG Nursery
The provision of a borehole facility at GTG’s new nursery site located on a plot of land adjacent to the Damisikrom farmers’ centre has significantly boosted GTG’s capacity to produce more hybrid cocoa seedlings and seedlings of other economic trees for supply to smallholder farmers in its operational area. Total seedling production by GTG for the 2020/21 farming season is nearly double of the average for the previous years. This is on account of the recently constructed borehole.
A. Boreholes dug and planned for 2021
Proposals have been presented to HC for the funding of three (3) boreholes in 2021.
The proposed locations/beneficiaries’ communities/facility are as follows:
1. Adunkwaa Community
2. Aduamoah Health Centre
3. Permanent Cocoa Nursery Site at Bompata
Adunkwaa Community Borehole
Enhancement of access to clean and safe drinking water is a felt need of the people of Adunkwaa, a leading cocoa growing community within the Nkawkaw Cocoa District.
Adunkwaa with an estimated current population of 450 is served by a single borehole fitted with a hand pump. Increasing demand for water for domestic and agricultural purposes has resulted in excessive pressure on the only borehole facility leading to frequent breakdown of the hand pump. The people are compelled to rely on unsafe sources of water whenever the pump breaks down. These sources include streams and hand-dug wells most of which are polluted.
The people of Adunkwaa through their chief, have presented a request to HC through GTG for financial support toward the construction of an additional borehole fitted with a hand pump.
Aduamoah Health Centre
Aduamoah Health Centre is one of the facilities established by the Ghana Health Service to cater to the healthcare needs of several cocoa farming communities in the Nkawkaw Cocoa District.
The facility currently faces severe challenges with regard to access to clean and safe water for its operations.
Although Aduamoah has a piped water system, the entire community currently faces the problem of inadequate water supply. This is due principally to increasing demand which has outstripped supply as well as a weak supply infrastructure which is unable to distribute the little water that is produced to all parts of the town.
Piped water hardly reaches the health centre which is located on the outskirts of Aduamoah. The facility is therefore compelled to rely on the services of private water tanker service providers for the supply of water needed for its operations. The high cost involved in the reliance on private providers has severely affected the healthcare delivery capacity of the centre.
The management of the facility and the chief of the town have combined to present a formal request to HC through GTG for financial support toward the construction of a dedicated mechanized borehole for the centre.
Permanent Cocoa Nursery Site at Bompata
GTG proposes to reactivate its nursery operations in Bompata in the upcoming 2021/22 nursery season. This is in response to growing demand and the need to decentralize production as a way of reducing the cost of production and distribution of cocoa seedlings and seedlings of other economic trees.
Nursery operations at Bompata were suspended due to operational challenges including the lack of a permanent nursery site. GTG has recently acquired a permanent nursery site and intends to bring it on stream in the last quarter of this year.
The provision of a dedicated borehole is an important requirement for efficient nursery operations.
Testimony of a beneficiary who has been positively impacted by access to clean water
“My name is Mrs. Osei Linda, I live in Behinase-Manhuntem, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to our benefactors, Hotel Chocolat and Green Tropics Group for the wonderful and valuable gift of an easily accessible and reliable source of safe and clean drinking water. It is a long-cherished dream of mine that I never imagined could be a reality so soon. I believe this dream and feeling is shared is by most residents of this community especially my colleague women and our children.
I now spend a fraction of the time and effort needed in the past to access and provide water for my household. The quality is incomparable and I believe this community is now free from the chronic health problems associated with the lack of clean and safe water such as skin diseases, typhoid and diarrhoea.
Getting enough water during the dry season for the irrigation of nurseries for the production of seedlings will no longer be a problem. I also expect the nutritional standard of my household to improve as I now have access to water all-year-round for the cultivation of vegetables and spices right in my backyard.”
