Cocoa Farmers' Livelihoods and Sector Sustainability - Supporting Multi-Actors-Partnerships in Ghana

24.02.-02.03.2019
“We have to break the mould!” This statement Jean-Marc Anga, Executive Director of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), made at the World Cocoa Conference (Berlin, April 2018) is often quoted to summarize the complexity of challenges when it comes to making the cocoa sector more sustainable. Despite years of effort of several different people and organizations, underlying core problems still remain unsolved:

The income situation of peasant families has to improve to lead a decent life – in cocoa as well as by agric diversification. There is a need for investment in the public infrastructure in cocoa growing regions to enable the youth and older people living there a future and to reduce migration to the cities. Cocoa plantations in Ghana, of which 40% are over-aged or diseased, have to be replanted and become a productive element of an agro-forestry system to be run by local groups. The cocoa sustainability agenda includes also decentralized supply of renewable energies as well as the increase of local cocoa processing including job creation for young people.

The Exposure and Dialogue Programme enables you to:

• get to know the living and production conditions of cocoa farmers in a short period of time;
• share with relevant stakeholders about their ideas on the next steps to be made towards sector sustainability;
• gain insights and strengthen the partnerships and co-operations in the Ghanaian cocoa sector; together with other companies’, policy and civil society representatives.

Contact: Jörg Hilgers, Tel. +49 228 286 276 44
E-Mail: hilgers(at)edpev.de