ZALF at the International Symposium on Cocoa Research in Montpellier

At the 2nd International Symposium on Cocoa Research in Montpellier (France), ZALF scientists from the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries" presented current research results from the PRO-PLANTEURS project on cocoa farming in Côte d'Ivoire. The conference was organized by the International Cocoa Organization and the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD). More than 500 participants from academia, as well as the entire cocoa value chain, gathered for intensive discussions on sustainable cocoa production.

During the symposium, PhD student Bonna Antoinette Tokou from the Université Félix-Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) and ZALF presented research results on diversification models of Ivorian cocoa farmers in the PRO-PLANTEURS research project. In a poster presentation, Dr. Franziska Ollendorf and Dr. Claudia Coral explained measures to reduce income disparities. The team also met with project partner Prof. Adou Yao of the UFHB (Ivory Coast).

The research is funded by BMZ to conduct accompanying research on PRO-PLANTEURS. The joint project of GISCO, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) works with more than 30,000 cocoa farming families to improve their incomes and professionalize the organizations to which they belong.