From pruning to reforesting – how good agricultural practices can lift cocoa communities

With environmental challenges, rising populations and a lack of crop investment, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to farm cocoa in west African countries. So how can positive changes be brought about in this area?

In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, farmers are already seeing the increasing impact of climate change. Higher temperatures, less regular rainfall and extended periods of drought are leading to a lower crop yield and, in turn, a lower income.

Yet for more than a hundred years, cocoa has been an important crop for smallholder farms across western Africa. Today, around 70% of the world’s chocolate comes from small, privately owned cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria, where local farmers are at the helm of cocoa production.

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