Ecuador – Proneri
Strengthening the Cocoa Value Chain
Ecuador is world-renowned for producing fine cocoa called Arriba. It’s an aromatic, floral and spicy cocoa that consumers favor. While not all Ecuadorian cocoa is Arriba, there is tremendous potential to spread its cultivation and further develop the country’s cocoa value chain.
PRONERI, the National Program for Rural Inclusive Business, sponsored by Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, encourages productive initiatives and commercial understanding between small producers and agribusinesses. With the aim of rehabilitating national cocoa farms, PRONERI has partnered with the private sector to help targeted farmers organize their business practices and develop tailored rehabilitation plans. Under this objective, PRONERI selected ACDI/VOCA to implement the productive and associative strengthening project with the anchor firm Transmar, a full service cocoa trading and product supplier identified by the government.
The PRONERI-Transmar project is currently being implemented by ACDI/VOCA in Taura and surrounding areas in the Guayas province. The project’s objectives include
- the rehabilitation of farms
- improving the quality of cocoa
- building the capacity of 500 smallholder farmers to operate and commercialize their cocoa successfully.
The targeted farmer organizations have either resulted directly from or participated in ACDI/VOCA’s farmer field schools. Since 2004, ACDI/VOCA has trained 21,700 Ecuadorian cocoa farmers in integrated crop management, cooperative development and cocoa marketing techniques, and this experience will point the way to productive commercial relationships with Transmar.
The collaboration will result in more productive and skilled farmers working together to produce more and better quality cocoa for Transmar on a consistent basis. This will promote rural development while strengthening the cocoa value chain.
Training to Ensure Sound Agricultural Practices
At the end of the project, 500 farmers will have learned not only good agricultural and post-harvest processing practices but also to conceive of farming as a business. Training will cover commercial management and marketing skills to meet specific market needs. With training, farmers will become more professional and competitive and will earn more income. They will also become better business partners.
ACDI/VOCA will train farmers in agricultural practices and ensure application of key techniques to improve productivity at the farm level. The production objective is an average of one MT of dried cocoa per hectare. Field extensionists will meet with farmers an average of four times per month. Farmer associations will also implement the “minga” system of shared labor to lower costs and improve yields as well as to solidify the association. Farmers will use ledgers to monitor their costs and manage their farms as businesses, improving decision making and facilitating access to credit if justified. These ledgers can also provide valuable information to the end buyer on volumes at the association level and identify the best-performing farmers. This training will also allow for traceability and facilitate the certification process (Utz, Rainforest Alliance) to meet specific market needs. The project will also promote the continuation of farmer-led savings programs that help capitalize the associations or assist new organizations to develop a savings plan.
Organizations and Associations for Building Better Businesses
Associations will develop bylaws and business plans to be followed, monitored and reported on to members. This will enable the management team to determine priorities for the association with regards to investments that will bolster association finances.
The project will facilitate visits between farmer organizations that lead to productive exchanges on technical and commercial issues. The project will also organize annual presentations of results for farmer organizations and the anchor firm to share successes and highlight plans for the coming year. This can be effective in attracting new farmers to join the association and improve the volume of cocoa that is offered.
ACDI/VOCA has existing manuals for good agricultural practices as well as materials available in Spanish to support the farming as a business approach including ledgers and bylaws templates and other governance and business procedures. ACDI/VOCA has years of experience developing and monitoring business plans, and can also call on a corps of experienced volunteers to provide technical assistance on organizational strengthening.
Transmar will work with ACDI/VOCA to select communities to work with based on their selection criteria and ACDI/VOCA input. Transmar provides farmers with a consistent market as well as feedback on quality and market needs. Adjustments to the post-harvest process identified through analysis of samples by Transmar can be conveyed to farmers by ACDI/VOCA. While ACDI/VOCA cannot guarantee that farmers will sell all their cocoa to Transmar, experience has shown that farmers will share their concerns with ACDI/VOCA which offers Transmar the opportunity to address supply chain issues to provide a sound working relationship with their producers and suppliers.
For more information, contact Alba Bautista at abautista@acdivoca.org.
PDF version of profile (145 KB)
Updated: 1/12
