ofi, a specialist in food and beverage ingredient solutions, international NGO Rikolto, and the German Development Agency GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), have announced a low-carbon agriculture project in Ecuador, which aims to support farmers to mitigate against and adapt to the impacts of climate change on cocoa production.

The consortium is co-funded by BMZ and ofi, with Rikolto leading the implementation for ofi’s sustainability programs, including those it delivers for its customers over a three-year period. It seeks to address the impact of unpredictable weather conditions on growing cocoa by training 2,800 farmers in climate-smart agriculture. 

Climate change poses a significant threat to 1.7 million Ecuadorians dependent on cocoa, with approximately 60% of cocoa farmers relying on cocoa as their main source of income.

The low-carbon agriculture project aims to help support farmers in creating more resilient livelihoods and increasing the efficiency of their cocoa production. By implementing agroforestry, a regenerative farming approach, cocoa can grow alongside other plant species. The technique can help farmers to improve cocoa yields and provide additional income from other planted crops, while sequestering carbon and promoting biodiversity. 

The training will be delivered through 600 tailored coaching sessions or "field schools." Farmers, at least 20% of whom will be women, will be taught to integrate sustainability principles and agricultural standards into existing farming approaches, helping them to boost cocoa productivity and build climate resilience. The project will also produce 40,000 plants of the rare and native Nacional cocoa variety for distribution, housed within an organic cocoa production community nursery. 

Insights from the project will be generated by leveraging ofi’s AtSource sustainability management system with best practices and learnings shared with national authorities, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to help inform national climate policy. The project is aligned with Ecuador's REDD+ Action Plan "Forests for Good Living" 2016-2025.

Paula Andrea Rueda Peña, sustainability manager ofi Ecuador, says: “Together with GIZ and Rikolto, we’re strengthening the sustainable cocoa supply chain in Ecuador, helping to make it more resilient to climate change while lowering its environmental footprint. By introducing this low-carbon agriculture approach in our own sustainability programs and those we deliver for our customers, we’re supporting smallholder farmers to innovate the way they manage their farms to boost cocoa productivity and helping them on a path towards achieving a living income. This supports the aims of our overarching sustainability strategy, Choices for Change, to drive climate action and positive change across farming communities.”

Jose Luis Cueva, cocoa project coordinator, Rikolto, says: "Sustainable implementation through climate-smart cocoa agroforestry systems will generate a triple impact in terms of improving production, addressing the ravages of climate change and ensuring a living income for producers. At Rikolto, we believe that capacity building, innovation and sustainability are key pillars for improving the livelihoods of cocoa producers."

Ralf Buss, project manager, GIZ AgriChains Ecuador says: “Global problems such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity can only be solved together with the involvement of different sectors and stakeholders. Strategic alliances between the public and private sectors are of fundamental importance here. In this way, innovative projects can be jointly developed and implemented that drive a transformation towards low-emission agriculture and improve the climate resilience of food and agricultural systems, which will also benefit Ecuadorian cocoa producers. This leads to greater sustainability in the global cocoa supply chain. The main objective of the project is to promote adaptation to climate change by introducing new strategies that help producers to sustainably improve their productivity. This will result in increased income while complying with social and environmental sustainability criteria, such as reducing carbon emissions in cocoa production.”

The official launch event, which took place today in Quito, was attended by members of the Ministry de Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition, a representative on behalf of the German Ambassador in Ecuador and other actors in the cocoa supply chain. 

Related: ofi's cocoa business aims for new 2030 targets