Entry: Bill Guyton

In 2000, The United Nations set forth an ambitious plan, encouraging the international community to adopt “Millennium Development Goals” or MDGs over a 15 year period. These included:

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

We are now at the mid-point to the 2015 target, and the UN has issued a report highlighting achievements and challenges to date.

The good news is that the rate of extreme poverty is declining, school enrollment has risen, child mortality is declining, and malaria control measures have expanded. Despite these achievements, key challenges remain. Over half a million women continue to die each year from preventable complications with pregnancy and child birth, the number of people dying from AIDS has increased to 2.9 million in 2005, income disparity has widened, employment opportunities for youth in developing countries is limited, and warming of the climate is now unequivocal. In order to tackle these challenges, coordinated efforts are needed among governments, the private sector, and civil society to provide financial and technical resources.

Cocoa is a smallholder crop, employing over five million farmers and their families in rural areas of the tropics. In many cases, cocoa is the only source of income for these families. They farm cocoa on fragile soils in remote areas, where access to schools and medical facilities may be distant. In collaboration with national governments, the World Cocoa Foundation strives to work through partnerships to address challenges in the cocoa supply chain, following some of the program areas outlined in the MDGs. These include efforts on poverty reduction, education, health care and environmental sustainability. We see the power of working together in partnership with others in the international development community, to provide better opportunities for those in the rural tropics.

Photo: Students from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) participate in an AIDS awareness event. Their posters include information on HIV/AIDS prevention. The students, participants in the CLASSE program, organized the event for their community in recognition of World AIDS Day.

Entry: Paul Ntim, WCF intern from Columbia University, and Ghana Cocoa Board,Statistician

I had the opportunity to visit the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Services-Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory (SPCL) in Beltsville, Maryland on July 25, 2007. The visit afforded me the opportunity to see ongoing research activities aimed at addressing diseases and pests that threatens cocoa and coffee production in the world but focuses mostly on Central and South America.

My knowledge in biology and chemistry was refreshed. I had interesting discussion in areas such as biological and chemical disease control and development of agronomic systems for cocoa and alternative crops; environmental quality impacts from pesticides use on perennial crops; molecular characterization and diversity assessment of cocoa germplasm, biodiversity, cocoa farming irrigation as pertains in Australia, Adaptation of cocoa production to climatic changes among others. I visited various units within the laboratory that deal with particular research activities to see research instruments and demonstration of research procedures. In the end, I appreciated the fact that, sustaining the global cocoa economy goes beyond market and economic conditions, policy makers, the farmers, industry regulators among others. In fact, it involves a greater number of stakeholders whose roles and activities should be properly coordinated and integrated aimed at sustaining the global cocoa economy.

The visit was, of course, made possible by wonderful and affable scientists of SPCL made up of Lyndel W. Meinhardt-Research leader, Dapeng Zhang-Genetists, Fernando E. Vega-Entomologist, Francisco Posada, Prakash K. Hebbar, Cocoa Pests and Diseases Specialist of Mars Inc., Robert D. Lumsden- Cocoa Research Specialist and Consultant of World Cocoa Foundation and visit coordinator; and Eric Rosenquist-Tropical Commodities National Program Leader. To them, I say kudos.

Photo: Paul Ntim in the laboratory at Beltsville.

Entry: Robert Peck, World Cocoa Foundation

I recently had the opportunity to travel to northern Peru to the San Martin province. From Lima we took a one hour flight to Tarapoto and, with Enrique Arevalo and Luis Zúñiga from Instituto de Cultivo Tropicales (ICT) and Marcelo Núñez of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), went deep into the Huallaga Valley into a town know as Juanjui. It was my first time visiting with farmers in this part of the country, a region that in the 80’s and early 90’s was known as a collection hub for coca production. This illicit crop brought to the region violence, death, corruption and crippled the moral values of the community.

This trip has been one of my professional highlights, as I was able to evidence a community of farmers missing basic needs (potable water, sewage system, advanced or technical educational opportunities) but proud of their region and with hope that a new way of life has arrived. The valley which has fertile lands and generous water supply is nowadays well known for growing diverse crops: oranges, cotton, corn and cocoa. It is exciting to see the role that cocoa is now playing in the local economy and how farmers are interested in increasing their knowledge on best practices to improve farm productivity, looking at multiple sources of incomes and in organizing into cooperatives in order to have more favorable marketing conditions and even testing the international markets.

During the trip I visited a group of people who are going through a cycle of farmer training, organized by ICT and funded by ACCESO (Andean regional program funded by USAID/OAS/IICA and WCF). I want to share with you parts of my conversation with Royer Mozombite. Royer’s family (parents, sister, wife and newly born son) live on a 2 hectare farm – “chacra”. He is a new cocoa farmer and currently also grows plantains and other fruit plants and vegetables for household consumption. Products of his farm can only be brought to the town in sacks on the back of horses, a journey that can last 1 ½ hours when the weather and “road” is in good conditions (during the raining season the trip lasts 3+ hours). Royer has participated in all 7 sessions of the Farmer Field School program and has 6 more sessions to attend. He mentioned that from day one he has implemented in his chacra all of the skills and techniques learned and in such short period of time his cocoa trees which were abandoned have a new appearance and lots of pods hanging from the branches. Royer also mentioned that even his father, who is stubborn and had lost faith in the old trees, is now helping with the new practices and encouraged with the early results.

Photo: Royer Mozombite

It is encouraging for us at the WCF to see evidence on how cocoa plays a key role in the lives of families, not only providing income for their livelihoods but also a honest, safe and tranquil way of life. As Royer mentioned, “we used to have a fake lifestyle, now we work in our farms and have the opportunity to enjoy life with our families”. Traveling to places like Juanjui, is definitely the best reality check and a call to all of us to continue our commitment with farmers and providing them with the tools to become more successful.