Swiss chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut has announced that it is establishing a$1.5m Center of Cocoa Excellence in Côte d'Ivoire,to promote advanced agricultural techniques in the country.
The center,which will be located in Pacobo,will feature 30ha showcase farm.The showcase farm will demonstrate intercropping techniques and other yield enhancement practices such as grafting to rejuvenate aging cocoa farms and double farm productivity.
Barry Callebaut will use the farm to test different approaches for growing cocoa with other crops.Some of the crops that will be planted alongside cocoa trees on the showcase farm include:plantain,coconut,mango,pineapple,beans and maize,as well as rubber and others.Shade trees will also be planted.
According to the company,planting other food crops and trees together with cocoa offers environmental benefits,and also directly benefits farmers and their families by providing variety to the family diet as well as creating additional sources of income to complement the earnings from cocoa.
The center will also feature a building with nurseries of cocoa,a classroom,and shade trees as well as fermentation and drying facilities.
The center is scheduled to go onstream in October 2012.From October,it will offer training to selected farmers from about 20 cooperatives currently participating in BC's sustainability and certification activities.
Barry Callebaut's Center of Cocoa Excellence as well as five planned Farmer Academies are being established as a part of the company's Cocoa Horizons initiative,which seeks to implement a portfolio of yield enhancement techniques aimed at increasing the yields per hectare and quality of cocoa grown by smallholder farmers.
