Oikocredit supports smallholder cocoa farmers in Côte Ivoire

Cocoa from the cacao tree is the main ingredient in the world’s chocolate. Cocoa is also crucial to Côte Ivoire’s economy. As the main agricultural crop and export commodity, cocoa sustains about 1.5 million households among the country’s more than 28 million people.

Smallholder growers and agricultural small and medium enterprises in low-income countries, including in West Africa’s cocoa sector, currently lack adequate finance. In cocoa, most farmers struggle to reach a living income. Women tend to own smaller farms than men and have less access to training and finance.

Filling this financing gap is crucial to improve economic opportunities for marginalised rural populations, especially for women. And it helps to build more sustainable food systems, protect forests and biodiversity, and slow climate change.

Oikocredit works with cocoa producer cooperatives, SMEs and microfinance institutions (MFIs) active in the Ivorian cocoa sector. Our finance helps growers buy farm inputs such as fertiliser, hire seasonal workers at harvest time, and pay for transportation, drying and warehousing.

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