[July 22, 2011] BRIEF: The Hershey Co.'s CocoaLink program goes live in Ghana Tweet Jul 22, 2011 (The Patriot-News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- In the fields of Ghana, low-tech farming is meeting high-tech communications. Earlier this spring, The Hershey Co. and its international partners at the Ghana Cocoa Board announced they were developing a cellphone-based communications network to provide information to farmers in the African nation's fields. This month, the program went live, when the cocoa board transmitted the first messages to some 1,400 farmers on July 11. The network uses voice and text messages delivered in local languages and English to connect cocoa farmers with useful information about improving farming practices, farm safety, child labor, health and other farming issues. Over the last several years, The Hershey Co. has become a favorite target of student-led human rights groups that claim the company is not doing enough to combat child labor in West Africa. To see more of The Patriot-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pennlive.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]