Join Cacao Forest, a project using trees to save cocoa !

Paris, Lyon (69) Fd Terra Isara

Cocoa Farming today is unsustainable

Since 1960, world cocoa production has quadrupled, polluting the environment and wiping out swathes of forest in the process, from West Africa to Latin America and Indonesia (2018 Cocoa Barometer). And yet, despite this increase in production, millions of cocoa farmers continue to live in poverty. In rural Côte d’Ivoire, for example, Fairtrade estimates that farmers earn an average of $0.78 a day, 43% less than they need to achieve a living income. Against this context, few young people want to become farmers like their parents. In the face of these issues and the threat of climate change, the future of the cocoa sector is fragile.

But we all still love chocolate, and demand is rising. If we want to be able to eat chocolate in the years to come, now is the time to act.

The future of cocoa unites us

In 2015, a passionate group of people – cocoa producers, scientists, NGOs, universities, chocolate artisans and committed companies - came together to find a solution by creating the Cacao Forest project. This extraordinary partnership aims to create and test agroforestry practices and thus identify those that will have the best results for producers and the environment.

A committed team

This project is supported by the TERRA ISARA fund, whose mission is to contribute to the development of new sustainable farming and food systems. Through Cacao Forest, TERRA ISARA brings together committed and complementary partners:

Martin Notaro, Patrick Jagoret and Olivier Deheuvels, scientists at CIRAD
Marianne Martinet and Maria Rey del Arce of the NGO TFT (The Forest Trust)
Christophe David and Karima Latti of the university ISARA
Pierre Costet and Julia Holiday of Valrhona, Elodie Raineri of Chocolat Weiss, Révillon, and Damien François and Julie Blaise at AlterEco
Eric Vergne and Marie Loones of Relais Desserts, the association of leading pastry chefs

Each member brings their expertise, time and financial support to the initiative. In the field, Cacao Forest's activities are managed by Martin Notaro (CIRAD) and Maria Rey del Arce (TFT), in coordination with producers and local partners, including the CONACADO and FUNDOPO cooperatives.

Why this R&D project ?

Agroforestry - cultivating cocoa alongside other plant species - is the solution that allows farmers to diversify and increase their income while protecting soil health in their plots and preserving biodiversity.

Today, Cacao Forest directly concerns 30 small producers in the organic and Fairtrade certified cooperatives FUNDOPO and CONACADO. The project is based in the Dominican Republic, the leading organic cocoa exporting country in the world.

As an island, the Dominican Republic is a protected environment, sheltered from the common cocoa diseases. It is as such the perfect place - on the right scale and with motivated actors - to carry out scientific tests and to quickly see the concrete impact.

A challenge of this magnitude requires a systemic and innovative approach, an approach drawing on the different skills and close collaboration of the various actors in the sector, from producers to businesses, to even you, consumers.

Our approach

Cacao Forest takes place over 7 years. Our methodology consists of 3 main steps: ·

Phase 1: Field study of current cultivation practices (2015-16)·
Phase 2: Workshops with producers to imagine new agroforestry practices and first sales of producers’ fruits and vegetables (2017-18)·
Phase 3: Planting trees to test these new practices (2018-2021)

At the end of our research, we will roll out the best practices across the country with partner producers.

Where are we today ?

To date, we’ve held 34 workshops bringing together producers, technicians and experts in two regions with different growing conditions: a first in the south of the island, in San Cristobal, and a second further north, in the provinces of Duarte and El Seibo. During these workshops, the producers and CIRAD scientists worked to design the test plots, together defining the varieties of cocoa trees and other trees to be planted, as well as the location and spacing of each. This work led to the design of four "ideal cocoa agroforestry plots " that we now plan to test. Today, we want to kick off phase 3, with your help, and start planting trees! Once planted, scientists will track these plots over time and identify which design is the most resilient.

Help us plant trees

To go further and eventually plant more than 11,000 trees in our 36 test plots (2500m2 each), we need the support of those who are still missing from this project: you! This is why we’re launching this crowdfunding campaign on Blue Bees, with the aim to raise a maximum of funds.