Isaac Kwadwo Gyamfi, the Regional Director for Solidaridad West Africa, has stated that in order to close the living income gap, it is necessary to explore strategies that increase revenue for cocoa farmers rather than just concentrating on production.
He noted that productivity is not enough to improve farmers’ well-being without considering other multiple streams of income.
In order to achieve this, he said high productivity and good pricing; diversification of the crop portfolio of cocoa farmers; and enabling farmers and producer groups to have a share in margins made upstream in the cocoa supply chain, should all be considered.
“These are areas that we need to discuss very seriously and look at innovative ways of addressing them going into the future,” he said.
Furthermore, he recognized the need to leverage technology to address forest degradation by updating existing forest maps and making sure that there are associated land use plans that clarify areas to grow the cocoa crop.
This concern comes at a time when cocoa-producing countries are still looking for ways to increase farmer productivity in an effort to improve the living income position of cocoa farmers in the face of growing global concern about farmers’ well-being and the sustainability of the cocoa industry.
