Organic Fair Trade Cocoa, Ghana

Project completed

The project shall enable a significant and growing number of farmers in three cocoa districts of Ghana to improve their livelihoods in a sustainable way by adopting organic and fair-trade standards for cocoa production and by selling their produce via traceable value chains to market players in the Swiss chocolate sector.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Ghana
Sustainable trade
01.04.2010 - 31.07.2017
CHF 728'000
Background

Ghana is the second biggest producer of cocoa and a key country to meet the globally rising cocoa demand. The expansion of cocoa production in Ghana is, however, linked to many problems related to sustainability: the expansion is foreseen to be mainly realised in the newer plantation areas in Western Ghana, where high-tech, input intensive cocoa production without shade trees prevails. Older production areas have little chance to intensify, and there is a perceptible need to increase the diversity of marketing, production and livelihood options in a rapidly changing environment of production and social standards.

Objectives

The project will enable a significant and growing number of farmers in 3 districts in Ghana to improve their livelihoods in a sustainable way by adopting organic and fair-trade standards for cocoa production and by selling their produce via traceable value chains to market players in the Swiss chocolate sector. The project plans to cover 7?000 farming households that are sustainably cultivating almost 17?000 hectares of cocoa plantations within an agro forestry system. The project will strongly scale up an existing initiative started 2007 by the Swiss SME Pakka AG and its Ghanaian counterpart, Yayra Glover Ltd. Meanwhile they have certified 2?500 farming households and delivered 225 tons of cocoa in 2009/10.

Medium-term outcomes

The project will enable a significant and growing number of farmers in three cocoa districts of Ghana to improve their livelihoods in a sustainable way by adopting sustainable agro forestry based cocoa production and by selling their produce via traceable value chains to Swiss market actors in the chocolate sector

Results

Expected results:  

the systematic institutionalization of existing (informal) farmers groups

support of certification process according to organic and fair trade standards of farmer groups and corresponding capacity building for involved value chain actors

innovations and trainings for upgrading the quality of post-harvest processing (fermentation, drying, etc.), packaging and traceability

promotion and establishment of SMEs that act as service providers to the farmers in order to rejuvenate plantations and support in maintaining soil fertility


Directorate/federal office responsible SECO
Credit area Development cooperation
Project partners Contract partner
  • swissnon-profitorganisations


Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF   728'000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF   0 Budget inclusive project partner CHF   728'000
Project phases

Phase 2 01.04.2010 - 31.07.2017   (Completed)