Commodity Hub Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire is a one of the most important cocoa, natural rubber and coffee producers for Africa and worldwide. Agriculture contributes to more than 20% of the GDP and 40% of export earnings of the country. It remains the main source of income for millions of people in Côte d’Ivoire. Yet many households have to deal with immense poverty. Other challenges are the high percentage of child labor and extreme forest degradation.

To tackle these challenges the project promotes:

• Sustainable production: We support smallholder farmers through training on good agricultural practices and promote agroforestry systems to enhance sustainability. Innovations like mushroom farming using cocoa husks and biodiesel from rubber seeds help create local value and improve employment conditions.
• Local value addition: Awareness campaigns strengthen land tenure security, while targeted trainings promote the inclusion of women and youth. By improving access to knowledge and tools, we help build more equitable and resilient rural communities.
• Formulation and implementation of sustainable strategies: We partner with companies like SAPH, Olam Agri, and Nestlé to foster deforestation-free supply chains and climate-resilient agriculture. Through transparency tools and sustainable strategies, we link local action with global corporate responsibility.

Global knowledge exchange: We implement a landscape approach in La Mé to align natural resource management with sustainable agricultural development. International exchanges and multi-stakeholder platforms strengthen global learning and regional cooperation.

Public partners: 

• Ministry of Agriculture (MEMINADERPV), Coffee-cocoa board (CCC), natural rubber-palm oil board (CHPH), natural rubber umbrella organisation (APROMAC), national agricultural extension agency (ANADER)
• Regional Council of La Mé – with the regional council the project followed a landscape approach and developed a Green Plan for the region.

Research and civil society: 

• Fairtrade Africa, Solidaridad West Africa, INKOTA e.V., IRAM, Nitidae

Private Partners

• Nestlé – with the Coffee++ project, together with Nestlé we aim to improve the household resilience of coffee farmers through regenerative agriculture practices and agroforestry approaches, while contributing to reduce the living income gap of coffee farmers.
• SAPH – with SAPH the project is working on sustainable rubber production, with the goal of combating deforestation in the Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve (RNMY) and creating alternative income opportunities for natural rubber producers.
• Olam Agri Rubber – promoting sustainable production of natural rubber that meets international standards and contributes to improving the livelihoods of producers in the La Mé and Indénié-Djuablin regions

LONO – together with Lono we are improving the circularity in the cocoa sector through the use of cocoa cortex and other organic matter for compost and biogas.