Necaayo in Ivory Coast

Since 2012, Delica has been sourcing the majority of its cocoa beans from Côte d'Ivoire directly from the Necaayo cooperative. Some 500 growers in the farming community in the south-west of Ivory Coast currently produce cocoa for Delica. They live in little hamlets spread across eight parishes around the village of Allakro, about an hour from the port town of San Pedro.
As the exclusive partner of the cooperative, Delica has already launched various projects, such as:  

• Construction of a health center with a maternity ward. This has given some 2,500 people in the area access to basic medical care.
• Installation of water pumps in all municipalities as well as a solar power system for the hospital ward
• Construction of housing for the nurses, midwives and their families
• Various schools built across the eight municipalities: this significantly shortens the journey to school for the children and gives them the opportunity to attend school close to their home.

Delica's on-location sustainability team

As they travel around the Allakro cocoa plantations, Delica's sustainability team have seen for themselves the effectiveness of the collaboration with Necaayo. The contractual agreements are being fulfilled and the Rainforest Alliance premiums used as specified by Delica. Half of the premium is paid directly to the farmers. The other half is used to finance the projects mentioned above, provide farmers with production equipment, and run training sessions on good agricultural practice.

Climate protection project with Necaayo

The agroforestry climate protection project with Necaayo cocoa cooperative was launched at the end of 2020. The aim of this long-term project is to make cocoa production more sustainable while at the same time improving the income of cocoa farmers. To this end, we are working together with farmers to roll out an agroforestry system in which many other plants and shade trees are grown in addition to cocoa. This will increase the resilience of cultivation systems to climatic change and disease, improve the soil quality and store carbon. At the same time, the planting of native fruit trees and wood species among the cocoa trees provides the farmers with food for daily consumption as well as an additional source of income, as these products can be brought to market locally. The climate protection foundation, myclimate, was commissioned by Migros and Delica to develop the project and assist the Necaayo cooperative in implementing it, with support from the Migros Climate Fund.

Voices from the origin