Vanilla farmers in Madagascar are heavily dependent on vanilla prices. When the price is low, many of them stuggle to make ends meet. 

In order to diversify and stabilize their income streams, Prova and Barry Callebaut, supported by the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) have teamed up to support vanilla farmers in introducing cocoa trees on their farm, providing training to improve the productivity and quality of both vanilla and cocoa while also funding and supporting local communities through social, health and education programs.

Commitment to 100% sustainable ingredients

As part of our Forever Chocolate strategy to make sustainable chocolate the norm, we are committed to having 100% sustainable ingredients in all our products by 2025. The project we started in 2016 in Bemanevika, Madagascar has proven to be a highly successful driver of 100% sustainable vanilla. Despite the challenges created by tropical cyclone Enawo in 2017, volatile vanilla prices and a global pandemic, our  collaboration with Prova has exceeded all expectations and a second phase is now being launched.

Final audit interviews with participating farmers, the majority with no previous experience in cocoa cultivation, clearly underline the case for continuation. Farmer Georginot Lorissa (41) is still actively supported on the ground by his 73-year-old father. By December 2021 this family was producing 10% of the diversification program’s total cocoa volume. For this family and many others, the future-oriented scope of the engagement was vital. “We see you take us seriously,” Georginot Lorissa explains.

On another property, farmer Alexis Bezandry (64) reflects on his personal motivation for agricultural diversity: “I sent my children to school with the dream that one day they could become a doctor or astronaut if they wished. Now they are both in college."

Initially it was hard for the vanilla farmers to visualize that crop diversification could translate into income stability. As the cooperation progressed, and their knowledge and experience grew, this possibility became very real. Cultivating cocoa alongside their vanilla means they can harvest (and sell) cocoa beans every two weeks and secure a monthly income all year round. This is a welcome complement to the annual harvest of vanilla, particularly during the five-month period when they are typically without an income. To date, over 40% of the farmers involved are successfully growing and selling cocoa, some are already forming a cocoa cooperative and a centralized cocoa fermentation center has been built.

Since its start in 2016, the sustainability initiative has supported 700 vanilla farmers. The crop diversification has been complemented by vital training in good agricultural practices (GAP), as well as in financial resilience and independence.

The project’s second phase will continue the GAP training for vanilla and cocoa and there will be more community-based social initiatives. A second fermentation center, located very close to Georginot Lorissa’s home, is due for completion in 2023. Further diversification possibilities are under evaluation, such as patchouli, cattle, poultry and aquaculture, for areas where the soil does not lend itself to cocoa.

Already at the end of April 2022, a knowledge exchange program stemming from the first phase was kicked off between Madagascar and Côte d’Ivoire. On a strategic level, another pillar of action related to climate, including understanding deforestation, mapping plants, monitoring environmental change, biodiversity and food and water conservation, has been defined by Barry Callebaut and supported by Prova.