encouraging sustainable, responsible cocoa growing

Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation

Over the past two and half weeks, I was part of a small delegation traveling through West Africa to meet with cocoa farmers, government officials and project partners in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. It was encouraging to see the impact of programs in cocoa growing communities such as Bamba, Ghana where cocoa farmers recently graduated from one of the farmer field schools, sponsored by the World Cocoa Foundation and partners. With income earnings from cocoa, some of the cocoa farmers had installed a solar panel to provide lighting for the village in the evenings. Below, a farmer shows us dried beans which he recently harvested.

Not far from Bamba, our delegation visited the buying station of Olam International and then drove south to the Takaradi Port for a tour of the Ghana Cocoa Board’s quality control operations.

Photo: Testing for moisture content is part of the Ghana Cocoa Board's quality control operations.

This port currently ships 80 percent of the Ghana cocoa exports to cocoa consuming countries in bag and bulk form. The following day, we visited the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) in Tafu, to learn more about breeding research and integrated pest management systems being developed to help farmers reduce losses from diseases and pests. Back in Accra, the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Cocoa Board hosted us for meetings at their offices. We also had a dinner reception with local industry members to learn more about some of the challenges and opportunities for the cocoa sector in Ghana.

From Accra, we flew to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire where we had the honor to meet with the top leadership of the country. Honorable Ambassador Charles Koffi (Ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire to the United States) led our delegation to various ministry meetings, as well as to discussions with local industry members. The rest of our stay in Cote d’Ivoire was spent visiting cocoa farming communities in the Daloa region.

Photo: A farmer field school in Cote d'Ivoire.

We heard first hand about some of the achievements of our partnership programs and the many challenges facing cocoa farmers including lack of access to credit, poor roads, inadequate training/resources to strengthen farmer cooperatives. There were many good initiatives underway such as the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP), ECHOES, Socodevi, and Rainforest Alliance .

During one of the stops, we heard how Mr. Kaku, a STCP participant, had increased his cocoa yield from 6 tons to 13 tons, as a result of access to fertilizers and improved farming practices. He had used his increased income earnings to renovate his house and to open a small shop in his village. He explained that the greatest difficulties he faces are access to microfinance and strategies for diversifying his farm to include other food and cash crops.

Our final stop in West Africa was to Abuja, Nigeria to attend the STCP Executive Committee Meeting which was held at the ECOWAS offices (roundtable photo). African delegates from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Liberia were in attendance, along with the head of the Cocoa Producer’s Alliance, Mr. Sona Ebai. The chocolate industry and USAID also have seats on this committee. STCP plans to reach over 150,000 small scale cocoa farmers in the next three years, thanks to the on-the-ground support of the Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the various partners.

Photo: The STCP Executive Committee Meeting in Abuja.

Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation

Last week, I was invited to participate in the Black Policy Conference at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. This year the theme was entitled How ‘Making a Difference' Works: Approaches to Real Solutions highlighting work being done around the country and the world to reshape Black communities and improve the welfare and quality of life for Black people. During the conference, tangible examples were provided from those who have gone beyond dialogue to creating change.

I joined a panel called “Solutions and Successes in Africa” along with Dr. Julie Sullivan/President and CEO, International Foundation for Education and Self-Help, Walter Carrington/Ambassador to Nigeria (retired) and former Minister of Information from Nigeria. Curtis Valentine/Harvard Law School was our moderator.

During the panel discussion, I discussed how public and private sectors can work together to bring about rural development in Africa. My examples included the World Cocoa Foundation’s partnership in supporting the Sustainable Tree Crops Program in West Africa with our public sector partners. Over the next three years, the program will reach over 150,000 small scale cocoa farmers in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia. Many of the participants asked questions about how corporations can move beyond supporting farmer outreach programs to invest in “value added” efforts in developing countries. For cocoa, several companies have recently started to build new processing facilities in Ghana. Economic and political stability help to ensure that this trend continues. The other interesting topic was the need for long term investment of education in Africa to help provide skills and training for the next generation of business professionals.

Entry: Bill Guyton

Last Wednesday, I was invited to Morgan State University to speak about cocoa sustainability in West Africa. For those unfamiliar with Morgan State, it is located in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1867, its original mission of training young men for the ministry was later broadened to educate both men and women as teachers. Today, Morgan State is a public university offering courses in a variety of disciplines.

Joining me for the presentation were Ms. Welma Redd and Mr. Kwame Clement from the African World TV who shared their video entitled Teaching Skills, Improving Lives. Our audience included faculty and students who after hearing our introductions, asked several questions about farming and marketing of cocoa in West Africa. One of the students was from Ghana and mentioned that one of the largest obstacles for farmers is the poor road infrastructure to farming communities. Another student asked how improved incomes were impacting communities. Does this translate into better housing? Increases in education/school attendance? Better access to health services? Through various programs supported by the World Cocoa Foundation and our partners, we are beginning to track changes overtime in cocoa communities.

We hope to return to Morgan State University in the Fall of 2008 to provide an update to interested students and faculty on the programs. We will also look for opportunities for faculty and students to become more actively involved in efforts supported by the World Cocoa Foundation.

Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation

One of the greatest challenges for cocoa farmers around the world is how to establish successful farmer organizations. In Cote d’Ivoire, the largest cocoa producer in the world, less than 15 percent of the country’s cocoa farmers belong to cooperatives (according to some recent estimates). The advantages from a well-organized farmer group or coop, is that it can enable farmers to:

* pool their resources and bargaining power in the marketplace
* provide services to its members such as input supplies (fertilizers, improved planting material, etc) and farmer training
* time sales and sell in bulk in order to capture higher prices
* share learnings on crop diversification, so that farmers are not so reliant on a single cash crop
* establish governance structures and processes that empower local communities

Photo: Camene Cooperative Members in Tiassale

In a recent trip to Cote d’Ivoire, I visited the Camene Cooperative in Tiassale. Established in 1985, Camene has some 2,000 members. As a service to its members, the cooperative provides discount prices on inputs, farm
credit, and improved access to transportation. Through farmer field schools, they also learn about child labor prevention, integrated crop management, health care, farm safety and other important topics.

World Cocoa Foundation is helping to support activities through our partnership with the Sustainable Tree Crops Program and specific farmer organizational support activities initiated by SOCODEVI. We hope over time, to see more successful cooperatives established in cocoa growing areas. Other organizations are working to strengthen farmer groups in West Africa. Below are some of their observations.

Entry: Mario Boivin/SOCODEVI

SOCODEVI extends its congratulations to Camene Cooperative for the result obtained from the intensive work that has been underway in the last 10 years to improve successfully their operations with their members and for the positive impact on the Tiassale's community. SOCODEVI (Société de cooperation pour le développement international) a Canadian nonprofit international development corporation has provided expertise to professionalize and strengthen dozens of business oriented cocoa/coffee Farmer Organizations of West and Central Africa since 1987. Website: www.socodevi.org

Entry: Edward Millard/Rainforest Alliance

Rainforest Alliance is certifying cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire for compliance with its Sustainable Agriculture Standard. The standard requires the groups to visit the farmers regularly to monitor their practices, help them plan improvements, record their production and track the purchase and sales of their cocoa. This process strengthens the management structure of the cooperatives and ensures a close relationship with the members. Selling the cocoa as certified provides a market mechanism to promote and sustain farmer organization.

Entry: Kimberly Easson/Transfair USA

Through well developed community organizations, farmers are better able to share critical information about health, education and product quality. Especially in West Africa, cooperatives are best able to disseminate the message about the harmful use of child labor, and encourage more sustainable and responsible farming practices. When farmers are organized they have greater voice in the sales channel, access to market information which enables them to negotiate better prices and terms of sale – resulting in higher incomes and a better standard of living.

In Ivory Coast and Ghana, four cooperatives representing over 50,000 farmers are currently working through the Fair Trade Certified system to sell their quality cocoa products to demanding international buyers. Theo Chocolate is now offering a single-origin chocolate bar made from the first Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa beans brought into the United States from the Ivory Coast. Through their sales to the Fair Trade market, these farming communities have been able to implement a variety of programs to improve their cocoa quality, and the quality of their community services.

Through our Global Producer Services program, TransFair is working directly with two cooperatives in the Ivory Coast to support improved cocoa production and better quality management. We are working through a partnership with the Sustainable Tree Crops Program to deliver cocoa production training through the Farmer Field School structure as well as supporting the cooperatives to directly implement quality management training to members and staff.

Demand for Fair Trade Certified cocoa in the U.S. is growing and TransFair is currently looking to increase the number of farmers who participate in the Fair Trade system, as well as increase our presence on the ground to support farmer capacity building. Cocoa cooperatives in West Africa require urgent investments in infrastructure, as well as training in quality improvement and business development. These investments will reduce barriers to these farmers’ success in the US Fair Trade market and help them seize enormous market opportunities.

Entry: Daan de Vries, Utz Certified

Working on a mainstream certification program in Cote d’Ivoire, it is clear that there is a lack of mature and stable farmer organisations, with a few notable exceptions. UTZ CERTIFIED will work with its partners in the coming years to strengthen and extend this base. In the meanwhile, we hope that there will be an international exchange of institutional best practices, such as dedicated education for cooperative management, especially towards countries with a more recent history of farmer organisations. This will benefit both individual farmers and the long-term supply of everyone’s beloved chocolate.

Entry: Bill Guyton

Today I am attending the Higher Education Summit for Global Development, hosted by the US State Department, US Agency for International Development and US Department of Education.

The summit included over 250 participants, including university presidents from across the US and the developing world. There were also a few private sector guests who participated, as well as US government agencies.

During the opening session, USAID Administrator, Henrietta Fore explained that USAID and the National Science Foundation (NSF) were exploring a new relationship to support education and technology. US Secretary Margaret Spellings then spoke on the need to better connect the "islands of innovations" occuring at many higher education institutions and institutes. This conference can be a first step in aligning efforts and forming new partnerships in education. US Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman, highlighted the need to invest in science and technology to help address major challenges of today, such as global warming, access to potable water, and the protection of our oceans.

Other speakers included:

* Mark Dybul, US Global AIDS Coordinator
*Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation
*Iqbal Noor, CEO of Aga Khan Foundation and many others.

I also attended two breakout sessions on how to better link the private sector with academics. This topic is of particular interest to me, as the World Cocoa Foundation explores new partnerships with universities in the developed and developing world. Improvements in cocoa farming will require new technologies and a skills development, and higher education institutions are likely partners.

The afternoon plenary session included remarks from US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt. He shared stories from his recent trips to Africa, where he saw first hand some of the devastation caused by malaria and HIV/AIDS. Partnerships between the US government and university medical departments are forging new partnerships to help tackle these diseases.

US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao spoke about the labor needs in the US over the next decade. In order to fill skilled jobs, students need to receive quality education and be challenged in schools. "Customized" education can be designed to meet the strengths of individual students and help them meet their potential.

US Secretary of State,Condoleezza Rice, closed the session.

I am looking forward to tomorrow when there will be a follow-on meeting to discuss educational needs in Sub-Saharan Africa.