Originally published on cgiar.org by:International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Sep 14, 2006

The Sustainable Tree Crop Program (STCP), managed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been developing an integrated approach to address key constraints that work against profitable and sustainable cocoa production by smallholders in West and Central Africa. Over the past four years, STCP has been identifying, testing and validating necessary innovations in productivity, marketing, commodity trade, and strengthening of farmer organizations with a view to improving their livelihoods.

African cocoa production has suffered systematic decline over the past several decades because of inadequate access to production technologies, high costs of, and limited access to inputs and credit, old age of farmers and cocoa trees on the farm, poor marketing and a major shift in emphasis on agricultural policies by the producing countries. About two million small scale farmers across Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon Gabon, and Guinea who produce more than 70% of the world's cocoa are directly affected.

The constraints were the main focus at a recent summit of the cocoa-producing countries of West and Central Africa, held at the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The heads of states decried the efforts of the consuming countries at developing substitutes for cocoa products such as butter, with a view to reducing cocoa consumption. They discussed the various barriers against cocoa bean export and the adverse effects of child labor on international cocoa trade. The summit called for a mutually agreed pricing policy between producer countries and consumers in Europe and America to avoid an imminent set back in the chocolate industry. To address the vexatious volatility of world cocoa prices, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo who chaired the meeting suggested some remedies to help stabilize world cocoa market. For example, he advised his colleagues to encourage local consumption of cocoa products in their countries. In Nigeria, drinking of cocoa beverages is being introduced to over 25 million Nigerian primary school children. Among other agreements, the participants at the summit resolved to create a Cocoa Development Fund (CDF) and explore market potentials in Asia and promote intra-African cocoa trade.

They also resolved to work with their G8 counterparts to support both regional and international efforts including the good work being done by the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) to promote economic empowerment of resource poor African cocoa farmers.  STCP partnership also featured prominently at the G8 and New Partnership for African Development (G8/NEPAD) West Africa planning sessions in Bamako, and Accra. The G8/NEPAD meeting agreed to reverse the trends of poor performance by agricultural projects in Africa, and promote successful innovative partnership platforms such as the STCP as an example of high potentials of investments in public-private partnerships, smallholder farmer initiatives and the mixed cultivation of export and food crops. The STCP also provides a rare example of successful regional collaboration, well-coordinated multilateral donor support and proactive private sector input.

Established to improve global cocoa production, STCP is an initiative of the World Cocoa Foundation (representative body of the global cocoa industry) with funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).