Feeling Good and Doing Better: Enhancing Smallholder’s Livelihoods Through High Quality Cacao Varieties

Note this is an incomplete entry: Cacao is one of the most widely traded commodities around the world, produced by millions of smallholders in the tropics. Most of the value is added in consuming countries, leaving many farmers in poverty. In recent years, cacao has experienced a process of market differentiation since chocolatiers and consumers are appreciating traditional cacao varieties for their fine taste. Differentiation is creating two alternative value chains: i) the bean-to-bar model; and ii) the differentiated-within-mainstream model. These two new business models offer an opportunity to engage farmers in shared-value chains that could potentially lift them out of poverty, while at the same time promoting the conservation of cacao’s biological diversity. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of the three models — mainstream, bean-to-bar, and differentiated-within-mainstream — in improving farmers’ livelihoods and protecting cacao’s diversity. It also seeks to offer a set of recommendations to these new business models, based on our expertise on certification and other market-based mechanisms, to deliver the value promise of the triple bottom line: people, planet, profit. Funds will be used mainly to conduct fieldwork with chocolate makers in the Bay Area and farmers in Latin America, and to create a platform to better connect far