Source Trust Provides 12 Village Resource Centres

Source Trust, a not for profit organisation set up by Armajaro Trading Limited, has introduced a project to provide Village Resource Centres (VRC) in rural schools which do not have access to information technology facilities.

This is to assist in the teaching and learning of information technology in the schools as well as offer increased, convenient access to agricultural training for farmers.

The VRC have been designed to be located at schools and used by pupils during the school day and made available to farmers and extension officers in the evenings and at weekends for good agricultural practice training.

“Our centres are to provide farmers with improved access to training materials”, Mr Nicko Debenham, Director of Source Trust in charge of Development and Sustainability, explained in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

He said the project was being implemented in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board through its extension officers.

A total of 12 of such centres have since been established at Suhum, Enchi, Juaboso and Bonsu Nkwanta this year alone.

Mr Debenham said Source Trust intended to establish a total of 46 centres across the country this year in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board.

“Our primary motive is to help farmers improve their livelihoods through better crop yields and quality, achieved through sustainable farming practices.”

This, he said was to help pave way for long-term, sustainable cocoa production, while enhancing farmers’ business prospects.

Mr Debenham said the VRC was to provide an important educational resource for children, offering value for them to attend school .

In addition, he said the centres will serve as a platform for delivering training and sensitisation to cocoa farmers to further raise awareness of the worst forms of child labour.

He said the VRC would provide farmers with convenient access to education and research facilities, which could bring about lasting positive effects on crop quality and yields.

Already, the organisation has been training farmers to understand the value and impact of farm inputs.

Under the VRC project, Mr Debenham said the farmers would have the opportunity to share knowledge on best practices with colleague farmers in other countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

“The reasons for the VRC is to enable farmers have access to knowledge outside the country’s boundaries.”

Through its projects, which together offer a comprehensive package of support to farmers, Source Trust is able to help farmers improve production while maintaining the high quality that is the hallmark of Ghana cocoa.