Professionalising cocoa cultivation and supporting smallholder farmers

Context

In Côte d'Ivoire, around one million smallholder farmers cultivate cocoa mostly on a few hectares of land. Average yields fall far short of what could be achieved with tried and tested farming methods. The earnings of producers are therefore often far below a living income.

Farmers who depend on cocoa production are vulnerable to volatile cocoa prices. They are also generally not organised and existing farmer organisations often lack professional management. This makes accessing financing and providing services to members considerably more difficult.

Objective

Farming families in the project region have improved their living conditions while helping to conserve natural resources.

Approach

This is a joint project by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (Forum Nachhaltiger Kakao e.V.) and the Ivorian Coffee and Cocoa Board (Conseil du Café-Cacao). The project focuses on the following activities to achieve its objectives:

• Supporting cocoa farmer organisations in improving internal organisation through training and advisory services
• Optimising farms through training courses at the Farmer Business School to improve farming techniques, enable investment and promote diversification and nutrition with a special focus on women
• Improving cooperation in the value chain through a fund that co-finances and co-implements projects by members of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa
• Supporting joint learning and innovation through dialogue between project partners and the project’s target groups

Last updated: August 2024