The White Paper is the culmination of six years of collaboration between Barry Callebaut, Agri-Logic, IDH and Rainforest Alliance. Its findings provide actionable steps that underpin Barry Callebaut’s vision for a transformative approach to improve the existing cocoa farming model in Côte d’Ivoire, and more broadly, West Africa. The data analysis shows that poverty reduction is driven by three key factors – yield, size of farm and price.
The results of the Agri-Logic research provide the foundation for the sharpening of our strategy to support cocoa farmers in achieving higher cocoa yields, increased income and protect the forests surrounding cocoa farms. The results form the basis of our shift in approach from less training to more doing – with less emphasis on farmer training, and increasing investment to support the farmer with more labor, soil management techniques, and planting material. These findings provide actionable steps that underpin Barry Callebaut’s commencement of a transformative approach to improve the existing cocoa farming model in West Africa.
A picture of farming in Côte d’Ivoire
In Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa is predominantly grown by independent smallholder farmers. According to Agri-Logic data, the average farmer age is 48 years, with an average household size of 10.6 people, or 7.5 people when excluding dependents who may or may not be relatives, but are nonetheless dependent on the farm. In Côte d’Ivoire, farms are around 5.12 hectares in size, with an average of 3.61 hectares primarily dedicated to cocoa.
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