{"id":8748,"date":"2023-09-22T09:31:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T13:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/?p=8748"},"modified":"2023-09-22T09:33:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T13:33:03","slug":"fort-valley-students-west-africa-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/cegfsd\/fort-valley-students-west-africa-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Valley State University Students Inspired After West Africa Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Seven Fort Valley State University agricultural science students visited West Africa in November 2022 to learn about cocoa and shea butter production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group consisted of six animal science majors and an agricultural economics major. The students embarked on an 11-day journey to Ghana and the Ivory Coast (C\u00f4te d’Ivoire) with Dr. Brou Kouakou, associate dean for research, and Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, associate dean for academics. Both associate deans are with the university\u2019s College of Agriculture, Family Sciences and Technology. Latasha Ford, research communications manager, document the students\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their international exploration, the undergraduates visited a cocoa farm in Adzop\u00e9, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire and learned about the cocoa production process by CAYAT (Coop\u00e9rative Agricole de Yakass\u00e9-Attobrou). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Casey Hunter, an animal science major, immersing himself in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis experience and the knowledge I\u2019ve gained have been pivotal for me in wanting to become a change agent within the agricultural sector,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also visited the Cargill plant, laboratory and shipping facility in Abidjan, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire. C\u00f4te d’Ivoire produces about 43 percent of the world\u2019s cocoa \u2014 all from family farms. Cargill is one of the largest family-owned companies in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw the manufacturing, scientific and business logistics aspects that people wouldn\u2019t think about when making chocolate,\u201d Miniya Miller, an agricultural economics major, said of the Cargill tour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also visited a local artisan chocolate maker\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter part of the trip to Tamale, Ghana, provided the students with a firsthand look at how shea butter is made, the history of the Saakpuli Slave Market and Elmina Castle, and traditional dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team is grateful to the Cargill company and the West Africa group that hosted the C\u00f4te d’Ivoire trip. The Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, supported this international learning experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven Fort Valley State University agricultural science students visited West Africa in November 2022 to learn about cocoa and shea butter production. The group consisted of six animal science majors and an agricultural economics major. The students embarked on an 11-day journey to Ghana and the Ivory Coast (C\u00f4te d’Ivoire) with Dr. Brou Kouakou, associate…Read more Fort Valley State University Students Inspired After West Africa Visit<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1739,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":63,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,62],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cegfsd","category-quarterly"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1739"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/sans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}