Jean-Didier is a 39 years old Ivorian cocoa farmer, married with 3 children, living in the Lôh-Djiboua region. He’s coming from a cocoa farmer's family and started his own 2.5 hectares farm in 2011.

As part of the Cocoa Horizons program, Jean-Didier benefited from training on Good Agricultural Practices and got access to Farm Services like the Farm Business Plan. It means that together with the coach, a farm diagnosis was established to define a multi-year plan with recommendations to increase his yield and income. Improving the productivity of cocoa farms is a key area of focus. The Farm Business Plan is the cornerstone of the process to improve the livelihoods of farmers and their communities.

Since the past year, our Farm Services model has been reinforced with an innovative pre-harvest approach. It started from the observation that farmers only spend 70% of the time in post-harvest and only 30% in pre-harvest. Pre-harvest investments, especially pruning and soil inputs, are critical to improving cocoa yields and income. For farmers, assuming the financial cost of pre-harvest work and soil inputs remains a challenge. Therefore, as of this year, through the funds of the program, we are supporting farmers with professional labor teams and soil input subsidies.

Thanks to coaching sessions, farmers like Jean-Didier learn about the importance of pruning and the techniques. Pruning is essential to improve air circulation around and within the tree; reduce the risk of pest and disease infestations; shape the tree to facilitate harvesting; balance energy efficiency between leaves and pods; and allow for more sunlight to filter through the canopy to increase productivity.

Before the labor teams came along, I was not pruning my farm. Even though my parents are farmers and I have been farming all my life, no one taught me the importance of pruning so I never did it. I first learned about pruning from my coach. I immediately started implementing it thanks to the help of the labor team; and I can already see the impact.

The Cocoa Horizons Foundation is a non-profit organization, third-party verified, highly transparent on premium and methodology, based in Switzerland and established by Barry Callebaut. It’s an impact-driven program with the vision to drive cocoa farmer prosperity by creating self-sustaining communities that protect nature and children. The Foundation supports the Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment)*. 

*The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States