Towards a living income for cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast: the first results

The project established four demonstration plots in Daregba and Colonel. These plots serve as open air classrooms through which farmers can be trained in good agricultural practices, so that they can produce the target yield of 800 kg/ ha. Today, ninety participants have been trained in (post-)harvest handling of cocoa in the communities on the training plots.

Furthermore, compost training is offered to the farmers. However, there is little compost production as the communities lack equipment to break the cocoa pods into the small pieces needed. "Rikolto has learned a lot from both the successes and the failures of former projects, such as our cocoa programme in Ghana. The procured knowledge can help with impactful strategic orientation in this one", according to Alphonse Amani, Rikolto's Country Programme Coordinator. The project will now work with one youth-led service unit in each community to build a composting business. That way, the quality of cocoa beans has already improved.

Centralised fermentation and drying centres in Colonel have been built, but the Daregba fermentation and drying centre was delayed due to access to the land. Rikolto, supported by ECSP, negotiated with the chief of the village Gre-leon for the access. Construction started in January 2022 and is expected to be done by June 2022. At that time, women will also be trained on fermentation and drying processes.

In 2021, 7 different farmer-to-farmer training videos have been translated into two major local languages, Baoule and Dioula. These videos were screened for farmers in both communities in order to make them available and accessible to farmers. 98 farmers took part in the project and reported positively on the initiative, but some were worried about the internet connection needed to watch the videos