Musician and ONE member D’banj travelled to Ghana to meet cocoa farmers like Adam and find out what it means to be a smallholder farmer.

I got here and had no network on my phone – then I felt it. I knew that ok, this is real.

I’ve come to study and understand the power and values behind agriculture. You can call me the new farmer.

This is where the farmers are, this is where agriculture is key, and then there’s no light, there’s no GSM, there’s no phone there’s no technology.  These are the individual small-scale farmers that feed us.

Farmers are the foundation of the society. And if your foundation is not strong, no matter the mansion, it’s going to collapse.

I’m from Nigeria, and I’ve found out that 40% of our income is spent on food.  Here in Ghana it’s also such a large percentage and yet we are not awakened to know agriculture is the future.

Cocoa is very big here, but the people who grow it don’t even have enough money to feed themselves – and they’re farmers!

They don’t have enough stability, enough financial services, or enough support from the government– everything that they would need to build their jobs, grow more food, to take it from A to B.  And this would bring the cost of what we are spending on food down. It’s affecting us everywhere.

My parents didn’t want me to do music because they thought it wasn’t bankable. So we need to make people understand that when it comes to agriculture, it’s not a job for the less privileged.  Most people don’t know that agriculture can actually make you a billionaire.

We need to come together as one, because Africa is one. We need to wake our youths up, let them know that they are the future leaders of tomorrow. Let them know that we have 69% of Africa’s labour force working in agriculture, and yet we’re suffering.

Farmers are so important. And just like foundations, you hardly notice them – but if we have a strong foundation, we can not only feed Africa, but Africa can feed the world.  We have everything we need right here.

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