Economic and Financial Challenges to Scaling Up Sustainable Cocoa Production in Côte d’Ivoire proposes technical and financial solutions to scaling up sustainable cocoa production models at all levels of the cocoa production chain. These solutions were developed on the basis of the pilot experiences of three actors in the cocoa sector.
The suggested technical solutions are based largely on combining intensification of production and agroforestry. The financial solutions are based largely on a national agroforestry definition that includes quantitative elements to guide investments that are consistent with national policy objectives and can harmonise socioeconomic and environmental objectives.
Key messages include:
- The transition towards agroforestry can lead to a shortfall of several years. Given the plantation owners’ lack of savings, compensation mechanisms for this shortfall in the first years of transition must be formulated.
- The diversification of smallholder income in the medium term through the introduction of agroforestry systems represents an opportunity to improve his/her standard of living and protect against the fluctuation of cocoa prices in monoculture.