ABSTRACT
Supporting smallholders in achieving more sustainable cocoa cultivation: the case of West Africa Paul Macek, World Cocoa Foundation1, USA; Upoma Husain and Krystal Werner, Georgetown University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Changes in cocoa production
3 Agronomic and environmental challenges
4 Social and economic challenges
5 Initiatives to support smallholders
6 Conclusion
7 Future trends
8 Where to look for further information
9 References
The global cocoa and chocolate value chain supports the lives of an estimated 40-50 million people. The entire cocoa industry is heavily reliant on smallholder production models that include approximately 4-6 million smallholder farmers concentrated in a few countries in West Africa, and, to a lesser extent, in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Though the market for cocoa continues to grow, supply is projected to plateau or even decline in the principal cocoa-producing countries in West Africa. There has been little innovation in cocoa production since cocoa was first introduced during the colonial era and productivity remains low. The growth in West African production has depended on the expansion of cocoa farms into uncultivated land to boost yields rather than shifts in cultivation methods (Kolavalli et al. 2016). In late 2016, cocoa prices which had grown steadily from 2005 to August 2016 began a sharp decline and eventually decreased by over one-third, putting additional pressure on producer governments and smallholder cocoa farmers in West Africa. Governments of cocoa-producing countries and the leading private companies in
cocoa trading and chocolate manufacturing have recognized the urgent need to address the threats involved in cocoa production and coordinate their efforts to develop solutions to the ongoing and emerging challenges to sustainability of the cocoa sector (PARDI 2012).
