Bittersweet chocolate: farmers learn to help improve their lives

Small-scale farmers in Côte d’Ivoire produce 40 per cent of the 3.6 million tonnes of cocoa annually – under difficult conditions. But now six farmers' cooperatives have adopted a new approach. A total of 2,039 farmers have learned sustainable cultivation methods, with consequent improvements in the living conditions of some 12,500 people. 

A little green frog, the seal of the Rainforest Alliance, graces the entrance to Ouarmé Atome's farm. The Rainforest Alliance has developed an internationally recognised standard for the sustainable production of cocoa. The seal certifies that Atome's cocoa is of high quality and that his operations are well organised.

Ouarmé Atome is a member of one of the cooperatives that have switched to sustainable production to increase incomes and improve the living conditions of member workers and their families. The cooperatives have the support of a public-private partnership (PPP) project implemented by GTZ in Côte d’Ivoire on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In the project's Farmer Field School, farmer Atome and his workers learned how to combat pests without using pesticides and how to cultivate seedlings, for example. Through these new methods, Atome has been able to increase his harvest by a quarter to 4.5 tonnes. The farmers do not have to worry about finding buyers for their produce. The PPP partner Kraft Foods purchases the entire certified production crop through Armajaro, a cocoa dealer also involved in the project. In the 2007/2008 season, the crop totalled more than 6,000 tonnes in the two project regions. The fine quality consistently attracts the interest of new buyers despite the higher prices of certified cocoa.

The project also goes a step further: the farmers learn to create healthier conditions in their households, for instance to separate their kitchens from sleeping areas to protect people from noxious smoke. They also learn how to prepare drinking water properly.

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• Market-oriented promotion of sustainable cocoa production
  Certified Cocoa