Bridging the Science-Industry Gap to Help Cocoa Farmers Adapt & Thrive

As the prognosis for climate change worsens – with a new UN report calling for immediate global action to avoid catastrophe – the cocoa sector has an unprecedented opportunity to help cocoa farmers to adapt and thrive.

Already, cocoa and chocolate companies are supporting farmers to adopt good agronomic practices that improve their productivity and resilience. The industry and the governments of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Colombia have entered into an ambitious commitment to eliminate deforestation from the cocoa value chain through the Cocoa & Forests Initiative. To sharpen climate smart cocoa efforts, companies need cutting-edge scientific data that show in detail the projected consequences of climate change in various production regions. The sector also needs practical recommendations about which investments will have the most impact on sustaining cocoa production, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards.

The CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) global research program known as CCAFS (Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security Program) leads a broad consortium focusing on mainstreaming climate smart value chains. Its partners include WCF’s Feed the Future Partnership for Climate Smart Cocoa (CSC) program in West Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. The CCAFS consortium – CIAT, IITA, Rainforest Alliance, Root Capital, and the Sustainable Food Lab – aims to bridge the science-industry gap, and specifically to link companies with the science and guidance they need to move forward in promoting climate change adaptation.

Following a round of consultations with cocoa companies, civil society and West African governments, the CCAFS consortium produced two key decision-making tools to focus CSC investments: (1) climate suitability maps, and (2) geographically specific recommendations of climate smart practices, captured in a training manual launched in early 2018 by the Rainforest Alliance and WCF, in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board and other experts.

The Climate Smart Cocoa manual takes a ground-breaking approach by tailoring practices to the specific climate-related risks of different zones:

• Cope (lowest vulnerability – minor adaptation necessary)
• Adjust (moderate vulnerability – significant adaptation necessary)
• Transform (high vulnerability – need to transition to other crops)

Recommendations also differ by farmer, following a ‘stepwise investment pathway’. Farmers are encouraged to adopt a minimum set of practices depending on the climate change impact in their location. As their resources and abilities grow, farmers can choose to take on further “bronze”, “silver”, or “gold” investments to improve their farms’ productivity and resilience to climate change risks. These more advanced sets of practices are clearly described in the Climate Smart Cocoa manual.

Just six months after the manual’s release, companies’ efforts to apply recommendations are well underway in Ghana. Ecom and Touton have been retooling their training curricula to provide site-specific recommendations that factor in climate zones’ unique assets and vulnerabilities. Both companies are also conducting trials on demonstration plots so that farmers can see for themselves the effectiveness of improved practices. The Hershey Company has incorporated the recommendations into its CocoaLink app, so that farmers in ‘Adjust’ zones, for instance, will now receive distinct tips from farmers in ‘Cope’ and ‘Transform’ zones.