Cocoa seedlings for a better income
Our partner smallholder organisation FUNDOPO in the Dominican Republic is currently handing out around 70,000 cocoa seedlings at cost price. The aim is to boost smallholders' incomes by improving yields.
No fewer than 70,000 cocoa seedlings are currently being distributed to smallholders by FUNDOPO teams. They all come from the two tree nurseries owned by FUNDOPO itself. Most cocoa in the Dominican Republic is grown in agroforestry systems: the cocoa trees grow on land that is cultivated like sustainable woodland. In the seedling distribution campaign, protecting biodiversity and improving the smallholders' living conditions go hand in hand.
Protection from pests and disease
"Our aim in handing out the seedlings is to increase the yields from small cocoa plantations. By increasing production, we boost our members' incomes and improve their living conditions," says Wilder L. Nahui, Managing Director of FUNDOPO. The smallholders of FUNDOPO are motivated to increase their yields and by adding different varieties of cocoa tree to their plantations they are also helping with diversification. Mixed cultivation of different varieties is less susceptible to pests and diseases than monoculture farming.
(Wilder L. Nahui, managing director FUNDOPO)
Sharing knowledge in practice
FUNDOPO has two newly established show plantations where they can demonstrate best practice in cocoa farming in real life. After all, what bears fruit on the show plantation will also work on smallholders' own land. That convinces and motivates them.
Strenghtening the Internal Control System (ICS), which also has got an advisory function, has proved worthwhile, too. So-called "técnicos" train FUNDOPO members in how to manage their cocoa plantations in an environmentally-friendly way, giving advice on harvesting, pruning, refining, protecting against deforestation (EU Deforestation Regulation) and pest control. They also carry out the internal inspections for the various organic and fair trade certifications.
