As part of the World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting, which took place March 19-20, Andrea Camacho, sustainability director, Luker Chocolate, spoke at the breakout session: #9 Investing in Farmer and Community Health and Social Protection. The session brought together stakeholders from the global cocoa and chocolate supply chain to discuss key challenges in the cocoa sector, such as climate change, crop disease, declining productivity, and new regulations contributing to market volatility and a growing supply deficit.  

Liz Parker Kuhn: What are your three key takeaways from the World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting?

Andrea Camacho: The first takeaway was the urgency of investing in climate-resilient cocoa. With growing environmental challenges, like erratic rainfall and rising temperatures, it’s clear we need to double down on long-term investment in cocoa.

Secondly, we must support cocoa-producing families to increase their income—through diversification beyond cocoa alone. For our team at Luker Chocolate, this means promoting entrepreneurship and building pathways for farmers to expand their revenue streams and build more resilient and sustainable livelihoods.

Lastly, we can’t do any of this without collaboration. The scale of the challenge demands a shared approach—one that brings stakeholders together across the value chain, and the wider industry, to reach common goals. For years, Luker has been working to build those partnerships—rooted in trust, transparency, and shared investment—because while we may go faster alone, we go further together.

LPK: Why are industry meetings like this so important?

AC: These meetings are essential because they bring collaboration and alignment. They give us space to build connections, share knowledge, and most importantly, to reflect on what’s worked, and what hasn’t. These meetings enable us to avoid repeating past mistakes and move faster toward a sustainable global cocoa industry.

 At Luker Chocolate, our aim was also to share what we’ve learned from our own value chain through The Chocolate Dream. From agroforestry systems to regenerative agriculture and soil microbiology, we’ve seen how targeted, community-led solutions can help farmers build resilience – and bolster long-term cocoa supply. When we share those insights, we open up opportunities for collective progress.

AC: There is definitely a growing consensus that we can achieve a living income for farmers—which fills me with great hope. It was also encouraging to see real momentum behind diversifying income streams—recognizing that no farming family should be entirely dependent on cocoa to get by. This is critical if we are to improve producers’ quality of life on masse.

 As part of these conversations, we shared how our Chocolate Dream program is already showing what’s possible. In 2024 alone, 1,397 families in our value chain increased their income by 12% through diversification, quality premiums, and shorter routes to market.

AC: Resilient farmers and cocoa-producing communities make for a resilient cocoa industry. Investing in wellbeing—whether that’s strengthening education, protecting biodiversity or economic security—equips families to better manage everything from market shifts to climate shocks and price volatility.

Our role at Luker Chocolate is to create an environment where farming communities don’t just survive today’s challenges, but thrive long into the future—despite growing pressures.”

AC: At Luker Chocolate, we see the most promising progress in three core areas: innovation to reduce the impact of crop diseases, income diversification strategies that strengthen farmers’ financial stability, and greater private sector investment in long-term community resilience.

Cocoa is a wonderful, life-changing crop. But it is not a straightforward supply chain with one simple solution. For us, it’s about people— each farm, family, and community we work with has its own needs and potential. That’s why we focus on building relationships and creating solutions that are locally rooted, flexible, and designed in partnership with those they’ll impact. It’s this approach that underpins The Chocolate Dream—and it’s how we’ll continue to build a stronger, more resilient cocoa sector.

Related: WCF Summit marks resilience for cocoa sector