Dr. Royrickers Cook has met with the Chief and Elders of Agona Asafo in the Agona East District of the Central Region to find ways of improving the lives of the people in the community. Speaking at the meeting, the Omanhen of Agona Asafo, Nana Nyamfo Essuako XI, on behalf of the people, expressed appreciation to Dr. Cook for the visit and assured him of the preparedness of Asafoman to partner him to bring development to the area. Nana Nyamfo Essuako XI, who is also the Nyinfahen of Agonaman, reiterated that the people of the area were basically farmers and, therefore, looking forward to how the partnership could help improve on that enterprise to alleviate poverty, as well as adding value to their produce. The Omanhen also mentioned that through the ingenuity and generosity of some friends abroad, a community library had been put up to improve education in the town. According to him, the facility lacked some materials such as books, computers and internet connectivity; and other modern tools for teaching and learning. In view of this, he appealed to Dr. Cook and his team to assist in that direction. He also appealed to Dr. Cook to help put up a Cocoa processing facility in the community to facilitate value addition to cocoa produced in the area. It would be recalled that Dr. Cook, who is the Vice President of University Outreach and Associate Provost at the Auburn University (AU) in the United States of America, was installed the Nkosuohen (Development Chief) of Asafo early in the year. He thanked the chiefs and people for the warm reception accorded him and his team. He said the visit had given him an insight of the area, saying he would continue to educate himself more about Cocoa and its production and other products that could be obtained from it.He assured that he would endeavour to secure some books and computers for the community library. That, he indicated, would boost both learning and computer literacy among students in the catchment area and beyond. As part of the visit, Dr. Cook was taken on a tour of some Cocoa farms at Asafo to acquaint himself with the production of the cash crop. An indigene of Agona Asafo, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, who facilitated the partnership with Dr. Cook, said the area has an aggregation of more than a thousand acres of cocoa farms and could constantly supply a processing plant that is put up there with quality beans. Prof. Oduro, who is also the Pro Vice-Chancellor, was happy that both the Member of Parliament of the area, Queenstar Pokuah Sawyerr and the District Chief Executive, Dennis Armah Frimpong were present at the meeting.“The presence of both the MP and DCE means we at Agona East have moved beyond politics”, he stressed. Dr. Cook was accompanied on the visit by the Coordinator, Outreach Global at AU, Dr. Elizabeth Essamuah-Quansah and a businessman and an Alumnus of Auburn University, Mr. Reginald Moss.
