Progress in certification

In the PPDC, the first RA audit missions took place in January 2007 during which all the six cooperatives were certified with an initial number of 355 farmers. During the second round in September 2007 the number of certified farmers increased to 1745, and during the latest audit in fall 2008 even to 2,039!"

Improving yields

Mr. Ouarmé ATOME, 51 years old and married with a family of five, is the owner of two cocoa farms with a total area of 6.75 ha. He is a member of UPADI, a cooperative based in Issia. He attended the Farmer Field School training sessions of the PPDC project in the village of N' Gorankro to acquire the knowledge necessary for the good management of his cocoa farm, which was to be certified by the Rainforest Alliance. During the training, he learned new improved methods of cocoa production including integrated crop and pest Management, pruning of trees, raising of seedling nurseries, and general agro-forestry. Following the training on shade trees, nursery settlement and preserving the seedlings of indigenous trees, Mr. Atome was able to inter-plant 20 Frake and 18 Acacia Mangium among the cocoa trees in his farm. With the adoption of these new improved practices, he was able to obtain approximately 4.5 tonnes of cocoa beans per harvest as compared to 3.5 tonnes in the previous year.

Mr. Ouarme Atome:
"I am now more convinced than ever before that adopting best practice will result in higher yields and better preservation of the environment. These results will encourage my children to seriously consider going into farming as a business."

You can tell the difference!

Mr. Allah Yao Bernard is a member of the ECAAP cooperative near Abengourou in the Eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire. Four workers help him on his 12 hectare cocoa plantation. Mr. Bernard is attending the trainings very attentively and passes all the information on to his workers, making sure that they apply the new practices.
The cocoa farmer is impressed by the difference some small changes can make, for example increased hygiene in the housing area of the workers and tidiness on the plantations. In the trainings he broadened his knowledge on how to manage waste, to improve water quality and to create a hygienic environment for himself, his family and his workers.

Mr. Allah Yao Bernard:
"When you enter a PPDC plantation, you instantly realize the difference. The cleanness, the trees, and the housing area: everything has improved. Thanks to our better treatment of water and waste, our workers have less health problems. We are feeling better."

A positive outlook

Mr. Ladji Kone is a 55-year-old cocoa farmer in the UPADI cooperative with a 6.5 hectare cocoa farm who participates in the farmer field school training program.
The first results of applying the good agricultural practices acquired within the PPDC project are very promising: good aeration in the farm after pruning, many flowers and many immature pods and green leaves. Mr. Kone is now convinced he will have a very fruitful harvest season. As recommended in the PPDC training, Mr. Kone also set up a shade tree nursery for replanting at his cocoa farm this year. Although he has not started harvesting his cocoa, the results look promising as seen from the cocoa trees he is standing next to in his farm.

Mr. Ladji Kone on his cocoa farm

Showing solidarity

At the COPAPAIX cooperative located in the Central-Western region of Côte d'Ivoire, 80 of the 700 cooperative members were certified by the Rainforest Alliance and received a considerable incentive payment. They began exchanging information with the other members of the cooperative about the new knowledge and skills they gained in the training, as well as the incentive revenue. The president of the group, Kouassi Desire, suddenly began to notice a positive change in the cohesiveness of the group. He remarked: "I noticed that even people who didn't use to talk to each other have suddenly started to. Certainly, our cooperative has been transformed!"

Healthier pods

With support from the trainers and facilitators, the PPDC farmers thoroughly analysed their performance on the different parcels of land, one treated as learned in the Farmer Field Schools and one without treatment. They now have been comparing the cocoa yields and the number of pods affected by the brown rot disease on a continuous basis.

During these exercises, the farmers were happy to observe that the average yields rose from 508.67 to 760.66 kilograms per hectare. At the same time, the number of affected pods could be reduced from 513 pods per hectare to only 331 per hectare.

Considering these results, the project approach proves to be a powerful instrument for improving plantation productivity and reducing fungal brown rot provided the producers apply the practices they learned during training.