Liberia – SUCCESS Alliance

Working with Smallholder Cocoa Farmers to Increase Their Incomes

Cocoa has been cultivated in Liberia since the early 1900s and has been the second most important commercial crop after rubber. During the recent civil war, many cocoa farmers abandoned their farms and now need assistance re-establishing production. Production problems include poor planting practices; a lack of good planting material; pest and disease infestation; poor crop husbandry, agroforestry and post-harvest handling practices; and the lack of access to inputs and credit.

To address the challenges faced by Liberian smallholder cocoa farmers, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded ACDI/VOCA a 2½ year, $3.5 million project designed to improve the livelihoods of 5,600 farmers. ACDI/VOCA and its partner the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) will address the constraints in the cocoa value chain and mitigate smallholders’ livelihood risk by encouraging the diversification of their revenue sources. The Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises (LIFE) program will target Bong, Nimba and Lofa counties. ACDI/VOCA and STCP will use the proceeds from the monetization, or sale, of 9,300 MT of parboiled rice and wheat flour to implement program activities including the following:

• farmer training: training smallholder farmers in cocoa production, crop diversification, pest management, post-harvest handling, marketing and ACDI/VOCA’s signature Farming as a Business curriculum
• nursery, seedling production and tree rehabilitation: supporting the production and distribution of cocoa seedlings through the establishment of nurseries and rehabilitation of cocoa trees
• smallholder organization and increased market access: strengthening farmer cooperatives and organizations to function as profitable commercial enterprises; introducing farmer organization concepts to individual farmers with the objective of forming new farmer groups; and improving farmers’ access to markets
• access to credit: promoting improved credit access for cocoa farmers by training them in requirements and farmer responsibilities and providing assistance to lending institutions

For more information contact Katie Skaar at kskaar@acdivoca.org.

Updated: 5/08

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