Context
In Côte d’Ivoire, around one million smallholder farmers cultivate cocoa, mostly on just a few hectares of land. As a result of low productivity, price volatility and external shocks, such as disease or weather and climate phenomena, producers often earn much less than a living income. In addition, producers are often not organised and the existing farmers’ associations lack professional management. This makes it much more difficult for them to access financing and provide services to members. At the same time, cocoa cultivation has been the main driver of deforestation in recent decades.
Objective
The cocoa supply chain in selected regions of Côte d‘Ivoire has been adapted to economic, regulatory, environmental and social challenges, with the involvement of all supply chain stakeholders.
Approach
The project focuses on the following measures:
- Improving cocoa farmers’ production with tried-and-tested training. The focus is on adapting to climate change and protecting natural means of production, such as fertile soil.
- Providing training and advisory services to cocoa farmer organisations in order to safeguard their long-term market access and enable them to offer their members high-quality services for consolidating production.
- Implementing, assessing and refining stable and socially conscious procurement practices together with member companies of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa.
- Supporting joint learning and innovation through dialogue between members of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa and the project’s target groups.