Problem
Cocoa-farming communities, particularly in countries like Côte d'Ivoire, face significant challenges including rural poverty, climate risks, lack of access to essential services (such as water, healthcare, and education), and financial exclusion. These hardships can lead to other social issues like the risk of child labour on family farms, as families struggle to achieve a living income. These socioeconomic conditions create a vicious cycle, where poverty-driven issues, namely forced and child labour, persist.
Responses
Nestlé’s Income Accelerator Program (IAP) aims to tackle these issues by supporting cocoa-farming families with an income accelerator program. IAP offers premium pricing for farmers who can supply certified cocoa beans. On top of that, the program offers direct cash incentives to reward the adoption of good farming practices that benefit the local community and environment. Examples of such practices are school enrolment for children ages 6-16 to prevent child labour, agricultural practices to increase crop productivity, and income diversification (i.e agroforesty, beekeeping, raising livestock) to increase climate resilience. In 2022, the pilot program in Côte d'Ivoire reportedly helped 10,000 families. Farmers started adopting good-quality cocoa tree pruning, which was reported to increase cocoa production by 32%, while household incomes increased by 38%. The programme also provides gender and entrepreneurship training, which resulted in around 79% of women joining the Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) to further increase their income by investing in small businesses. The Income Accelerator Programme has reportedly had a trickle down effect on education: school attendance for children rose to 89%, a 10% increase from before the program kicked off.