By:Prof.Peter Twumasi

After successfully establishing my ABROYE COCOA FARM, it became necessary to hire a caretaker (KOOKOO NHWESONI) to look after it for me. He was to ensure that the farm which was yielding 100 bags a year was cleared of weeds, applied fertilizer regularly, smartly pruned the trees, controlled diseases and pests, and whenever necessary irrigated the cocoa trees in dry seasons.

It was also agreed that, the caretaker earned one-third (1/3) of the harvest each year. To ensure efficiency and fairness, we also agreed to review his performance at the end of a four-year production cycle. His contract was to be extended or terminated based on performance measured by the number of cocoa bags produced per year from the Abroye Cocoa Farm.

Prof.Peter Twumasi

First, I hired Odooka to oversee the Abroye Cocoa Farm. He moved into Abroye Farmhouse with his wife, children and farm laborers. Odooka is experienced farmer who worked hard on the farm but also never joked with his social and fun part of his life. After every hard day’s work, Odooka and his friends entertained themselves with drinks, food and music. This aspect of life sometimes slowed his operations on the Cocoa Farm.

For instance, he couldn’t weed entire farm in a season, he failed to spray entire farm with pesticides, he partly applied fertilizer to the cocoa trees, and he mostly delayed in harvesting the ripened cocoa pods leading to their decay. When the cocoa beans were put on mats for solar drying, Odooka, due to his frequent drinking and partying, obtained mouldy beans thereby reducing the overall yield.

In the first year, Odooka obtained 45 bags of cocoa beans for the Abroye Cocoa Farm. In the second year, the total yield dropped to 39 bags. It further dropped to 35 bags in the third year, and 29 bags in the fourth year.

I was highly dissatisfied with Odooka’s performance since none of the four years yielded even half of the Abroye Cocoa Farm’s capacity. So I immediately terminated his appointment during the four-year review exercise.

Next came another caretaker by the name Bamputa. He brought his family and servants to the Abroye Farmhouse. We agreed on same conditions set earlier. Bamputa worked so hard on the Abroye Cocoa Farm in the first and subsequent years. Assisted by his servants, they cleared all weeds on the farm, applied fertilizer and insecticides on the entire farm, and he pruned the cocoa trees to ensure high yield. Bamputa loved his family very much, and he always stayed home after work and during holidays.

He fed his servants well at home and occasionally entertained them with good music and sports. Harvest in his first year was 85 bags of cocoa. He again increased to 105 bags in his second year. The yield reached 120 bags in his third year.

In his fourth year, unfortunately, the area was struck by severe drought and locusts infestation. This double-disaster nearly decimated the Abroye Cocoa Farm and other neighboring farms. Disappointingly, the cocoa yield for the fourth year drastically dropped to 65 bags..

This year, I am to review performance of my caretaker, and to consider whether or not to renew Bamputa’s contract for another four years. Seeing the disappointment in this year’s cocoa production and the possibility of replacing Bamputa, my former caretaker, Odooka, has applied to be given another four-year contract with assurances that this time he will put up his maximum effort to exceed the current abysmal performance of Bamputa. He promises to bring me satisfaction and happiness during the next cocoa season if I give him another chance.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am still comparing and contrasting attributes of these two caretakers to arrive at one who will give me that satisfaction and happiness in the next four cocoa seasons.

Comrades, I urgently seek your advice. Should it be ODOOKA or BAMPUTA for the next four years?

Please leave your advice here.

Thank you 🙏

PT