Cocoa Farmers Can Help Manufacturers Reduce Their Carbon Footprint but Need Incentives to do so.

Cocoa Farmers Can Help Manufacturers Reduce Their Carbon Footprint but Need Incentives to do so. 

Mr. Jack Steijn, co-founder of Equipoise and organizer of the Chocoa Conference in the Netherlands, wrote an article titled: Can Cocoa Farmers Live From the Air? He starts off by writing that many people are becoming more and more sensitive to the carbon footprint of the products they use, and many are changing their consumption habits and opt as much as possible for products with the lowest footprints. He goes on to say that some industries have committed to being carbon neutral or even carbon negative. In order to meet this objective, he writes, ‘the industry will reduce their own emissions and buy credits to cover for the part they can’t reduce. 

Mr. Steijn continues to provide several analyses and suggests solutions for ways the industry can meet its objective, which includes paying the farmers for carbon sequestration. My response to this is as follows:

As a cocoa farmer in Liberia, West Africa, Jack’s article resonates well with me. He has raised some important issues in this article and they are worth investigating. The farmers need incentives to encourage them to go even more carbon neutral and manufacturers should develop close relationships with the farmers. The two can work out ways for more carbon sequestrations. For example, the farmers could plant additional trees, use renewable energy and use organic fertilizer. The manufacturer could even set up shops on the farms for making the cocoa powder, which could use less energy.

I believe that if our carbon footprint were to be calculated on our young cocoa farm, 97.5 ha, we would bring a negative CFP to our buyer when calculating the life cycle of the end product, delicious chocolate! We have not used any machines or chemicals in our farming process. Yes, we did cut down some growth to plant the cocoa but one can argue that they have been replaced with cocoa trees, which are capturing carbon. If I, as a farmer, have the incentive to do so, I will keep finding new ideas that will lead to carbon sequestration.