SUCCESS Alliance

Southeast Asian farmers face considerable crop losses due to pests and disease.
Fermentation is challenging in humid climates, but vital to producing quality cocoa. Farmers could produce better quality cocoa with specialized training in fermentation techniques.
Membership in a farmer organization allows farmers to sell their product in larger volumes and receive a better price. However, few cocoa farmers in the region have developed organizations.
Recent innovations such as natural means of pest control and new varieties of cocoa can help farmers produce greater quantities of cocoa at a lower cost. But, few farmers have received the training necessary to adopt these new methods.

Partners:

The SUCCESS (SUstainable CoCoa Enterprise Solutions for Smallholders) Alliance provides farmers with instruction and technical support so that they can earn more from their cocoa crop.
The program operates in three countries—Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Individual programs under the SUCCESS Alliance include:
- A series of “Farmer Field Schools” help farmers combat pests such as cocoa pod borer that devastate their cocoa crops
- Research and cultivation efforts to improve the strength and disease resistance of the cocoa crop
- A video compact disc distributed to thousands of farmers with segments on disease/pest management and improved farming techniques
- Efforts to help farmers improve the quality of their cocoa and earn a premium for their crop
- Encouraging farmers to sell their cocoa collectively in volume, thus securing a better price
By the end of 2006, more than 167 thousand farmers will have benefited from programs operated under the SUCCESS Alliance.

Depending upon the program, participating farmers report an increase in family income of over 30 percent.