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Ivory Coast: cocoa producers turn to agroforestry
Ivory Coast: cocoa producers turn to agroforestry
(France 2)
With Easter just around the corner, the price of cocoa has tripled in one year. This is due, in particular, to poor harvests in Ivory Coast, the leading producing country. Faced with the environmental impact of cultivation, farmers are changing their harvesting method.
Axel Emmanuel Gbaou, artisan chocolatier and Ivory Coast champion chocolate-pastry chef, buys his raw material, cocoa, only from farmers working in agroforestry. Thus, producers harvest without cutting down the cocoa trees. “With agroforestry, you have the entire ecosystem which demonstrates that cocoa is a friend of the forest”, he explains. Since the 1960s, Ivory Coast has lost 80% of its forests, partly due to cocoa cultivation.
Agroforestry, a good compromise
Today, farmers are encouraged to grow cocoa trees among the trees. This protects the ecosystem from the sun. Additionally, the leaves and fruits serve as a natural fertilizer. The country, the world’s leading cocoa producer, cannot afford to replace its plantations with forests. They therefore see agroforestry as a good compromise, at a time when the European Union has voted to ban the import of products resulting from deforestation, including cocoa.
Among Our sources
ICCO, International cocoa organization (in English)
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) is an intergovernmental organization made up of 51 member countries, including cocoa exporters and importers.
ICCO monthly price statement => Statistics => cocoa daily prices + monthly average
Deforestation in Ivory Coast: World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization
Non-exhaustive list.
