Improving Livelihoods through Cocoa

TechnoServe is a key implementer in the Cocoa Livelihoods Program, which seeks to double the incomes of one third of West African cocoa farming households within 10 years.

Agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers, which can double cocoa farmers’ yields, will play a critical role. Since 2009, TechnoServe has trained nearly 5,000 Ivoirian farmers on input application and credit management. By brokering innovative risk sharing agreements between cocoa exporters, input suppliers and lenders, TechnoServe has facilitated credit for nearly 4,600 Ivoirian cocoa farmers who have maintained an impressive 100% repayment rate, even during the political crisis.

From 2012 to 2013, TechnoServe scaled the credit scheme significantly in Côte d’Ivoire – nearly quadrupling the value of credit disbursed, doubling the number of participating cooperatives and increasing the percentage of borrowers receiving fertilizers from three percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2013. TechnoServe also completed the integration of microfinance partner, Advans Cote d’Ivoire, into the credit system in 2013 and secured refinancing from Kiva. TechnoServe has continued to scale the CLP credit scheme in Ghana, where it has facilitated input credit to over 5,300 cocoa farmers over the life of the program. This brings the total farmers receiving credit over the life of the CLP to nearly 10,000.