DAY 2: From the Ground Up: Farmers Take the Stage

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“The Cocoa Farmer Should Not Be Alone”

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Farmers from Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Nigeria, and Latin America took the floor in a powerful start to Day Two. Their message was consistent:

• They face unpredictable weather, ageing trees, and legal hurdles to EUDR compliance.
   

• Financing, innovation, and access to land documentation remain critical barriers.
   

• The call: “We need investment, not charity. And a voice in pricing.”
   

Gerald Bagonza from Uganda’s Bwamba Coop Union emphasised knowledge sharing and crop finance access, while others spoke on the burden of monoculture and lack of visibility in decision-making.

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Shining a Light on the Invisible Farmer

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In a panel moderated by Anna Laven and Anika Altaf (INCLUDE Knowledge Platform), experts discussed the hidden workers and families behind cocoa’s indirect supply chain:

• KIT, Wageningen University, and NewForesight presented new methodologies for tracking household income and living wage data.
   

•  International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) revealed that 1.5 million children in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are engaged in child labour.
   

• Oyinkansola Owoyemi (Sunbeth Global, Nigeria) highlighted farmers’ “invisibility” despite Nigeria being the fourth-largest cocoa exporter.
   

Carbon Finance: Opportunity or Mirage?

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Friday’s mid-morning session tackled carbon credits and insetting, with speakers offering hard truths:

• Tropenbos Ghana explained their model where farmers retain 69% of carbon earnings—but the payout is still only ~$1 per farmer annually.
   

• Terraton and ACT Commodities introduced biochar as a scalable solution, projecting $350K in profits for medium-scale projects.
   

• Satelligence and Fairtrade discussed democratizing access for smaller producers to carbon markets.
   

Innovation and Disease: Future-Proofing Cocoa

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In the final session, SwissDecode’s Gianpaolo Rando likened swollen shoot virus to a “COVID moment” for cocoa—fast-spreading, latent, and devastating. He argued for PCR testing, genetic resilience, and international cooperation.

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Fanny Butler (Koltiva) reinforced the EUDR data challenge, highlighting fragmented supply chains, siloed platforms, and unequal access to technology. Her call: build systems that reward smallholders for transparency.

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Then came the wildcard: Alex Shandrovsky of California Cultured, pitching lab-grown cocoa as the sector’s climate-resilient future. Greeted with scepticism, his pitch raised eyebrows but planted a seed.

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“By 2032, 50% of cocoa farms may be non-viable. This is not science fiction—it’s insurance for a broken supply chain.”

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CocoaRadar Takeaway: Cooperation or Crisis?

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Chocoa 2025 offered a mirror to the cocoa industry. One that reflects hard truths—about farmer poverty, deforestation, and data inequity—but also one that shows possibility.

Whether it’s through EUDR readiness, carbon markets, AI-driven traceability, or climate-smart seeds, the tools exist. Now, it’s a question of will, trust, and shared investment.

As one farmer said: “Money is not a gift. It’s what we need to do our job. Sustainability must start with the producer.”