Cocoa certification delivers sweet results to smallholder farmers in Uganda
Increased cocoa sales and prices, higher household income for smallholder farmers, improved cocoa quality, better sustainable farming practices, and reduced child labour on cocoa farms. These were the results of a project co-funded by SSNUP and developed by Alterfin for ATW (African Trade Winds, a subsidiary of Edelsource) in Uganda.
The project focused on training, auditing, and certifying smallholder cocoa farmers, using a digital platform to enable farm mapping, systematic collection of data on farmers and communities, as well as environmental risk assessments to prevent deforestation and comply with EUDR requirements.
The strategy was beneficial for smallholder farmers. A perception survey commissioned by SSNUP and carried out by Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT (International Centre for Tropical Agriculture) among Pamoja Cooperative members concluded that almost all respondents (98%) adopted Good Agricultural Practices thanks to the training. The same percentage of farmers reported increased cocoa yields since certification as well as increased cocoa prices and sales to ATW. At the same time, nearly all farmers (97%) reported higher household income. The gains were reinvested in land, housing, education, motorcycles, and small businesses.
However, the survey also identified several areas for improvement. Record-keeping and compliance documentation are still lacking: almost no farmers maintain labour contracts or written procedures for health, safety and handling complaints, despite these being explicit certification requirements. In addition,transport and logistics costs continue to inflate marketing costs, partially offsetting the price gains resulting from certification. Addressing these gaps will be essential for sustaining and maximising the advantages of certification.