Unlike other crops grown for global consumption, cocoa production doesn’t take place on large-scale plantations. Instead, 95% of the world’s cocoa comes from smallholder farms just two to five hectares in size, with 70% produced across western Africa in countries including Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
“Cocoa is traditionally a low-yield crop,” says Darrell High, head of Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan – an initiative committed to a more sustainable approach to cocoa farming. “Each farm produces, on average, about 400kg of cocoa per hectare. It means most farmers are generating just over a tonne of cocoa each year, which, unfortunately, doesn’t bring in a lot of income.”
That makes life difficult in cocoa farming communities, particularly because the income of one farmer can be supporting up to eight multi-generational family members. That’s a lot of people depending on a small area of land.
“Additionally, the location of such rural communities means education and health services are often inadequate. Transport is expensive. Even clean running water is scarce. It’s a difficult life,” says High.
Helping to educate communities
As a result, it’s not unusual to see children helping their parents with household tasks – from looking after siblings and cooking, to carrying water from boreholes – and because of the challenges there is also the risk of them engaging in work on the farm. Cocoa farming is often passed down through generations, which can mean that children miss out on the opportunity of an education and the wider benefits this can bring to their communities.
Nestlé started taking action in 2012 by launching the Nestlé Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS). Following this, Nestlé started working with the Fair Labor Association to annually conduct monitoring visits in its cocoa supply chain in order to establish what could be done to improve the situation. The CLMRS programme, developed with the International Cocoa Initiative, consists of a three-pronged approach, says High, that starts with raising awareness of the importance of education for children and cocoa farming communities.
Next, Nestlé monitors how the situation is progressing on the ground, by collecting first-hand experiences from parents and children regarding the difficulties of accessing education. “After gathering this information, we offer practical solutions,” says High. “This might be through buying basic school kits so that children can enrol in classes.”
Incentivising behavioural change
Long-term solutions lie in a mindset shift – something Nestlé’s Income Accelerator programme strives to assist. “The income accelerator programme aims to improve farmer livelihoods, help more children into school and build climate resilience through a unique blend of financial incentives and support mechanisms,” say Cheryl Allen, Nestlé’s head of sustainability, confectionery Europe.
It works by offering a financial incentive of up to €500 (£425) per year for two years, which is earned when farming families successfully adopt practices in four key areas: diversifying income sources; school enrolment; good agricultural practices; and undertaking regeneration initiatives. The programme is already supporting more than 30,000 families in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
“One particularly notable learning is how the empowerment of women can lead to better outcomes for the entire family, and especially the children,” says Allen.
To diversify their streams of income, women are encouraged to undertake low-cost alternative enterprises. “Many are becoming entrepreneurs with business ideas from growing crops to beekeeping and others too,” says Allen.
In the case of beekeeping, for example, Nestlé assists by providing a partner who trains the women, provides the hives and buys the honey.
Gender dynamics training is another pillar of the programme, which aims to break down traditional gender roles. “We find that if women are empowered to work or start their own business, there is a knock-on effect,” says High. “The kids are exposed to a better education and this leads to a better future for children.”
Working with nature
The effects of climate change – such as hotter temperatures, less regular rainfall and extended periods of drought – are affecting productivity. Cocoa needs regular dry and wet seasons “to kick off the flowering, fruiting and maturity” of the crop, says High. “Many farmers are already seeing that variable weather patterns are producing a reduced yield.
“Then, there are a range of diseases. Fungal disease – which, at mild levels, can cause a poor quality bean or, at its worst, can destroy an entire crop – insect-borne diseases, and the swollen shoot virus, which can kill entire trees.”
Pruning trees makes for a healthier plant that increases productivity – and, therefore, income – and helps to rid the cocoa of disease by aerating the canopy and cutting out problem areas. This can also save the farmer money by reducing or eliminating the amount of pesticide they need. So far, among the 75% of farmers who have adopted high-quality cocoa tree pruning, the practice has contributed to 32% increase of cocoa production. The planting of fruit trees, meanwhile, adds shade to plantations, helping the cocoa to survive in extended periods of drought. It also returns nutrients to the soil, through different root structures and organic matter, improving soil fertility. Both techniques improve the climate change resilience of the farms’ ecosystems.
“The beans produced, as a result of these good practices, are special,” says High. “They come from a plan, breaking new ground in the cocoa sustainability world.”
Driving results
Among the provisional outcomes of these initiatives, one of the most promising is a 10 percentage point increase in children attending school within the programme, while another is farmers reaching a living income. Additionally, half of the incentives within the programme are paid to the spouse – and there is evidence to show that when women have an income, they prioritise spending on their children’s schooling and healthcare.
KIT, an Amsterdam-based institute with expertise in sustainable economic development, was tasked with evaluating the impact of Nestlé’s programme (pdf). After 18 months it found evidence of a 38% increase in farmer income, a 32% increase in productivity, a 10 percentage point increase in children enrolled at school and a 36 percentage point increase in women classified as empowered.
“Fundamentally the programme is working to build resilience: at farm level, at household level and in the complex supply chain,” says Allen. “It’s still early days, but there is real promise based on the achievements to date.”
Learn more about the great work that KitKat Breaks For Good is promoting within cocoa farming communities at kitkat.co.uk/breaks-for-good