Inclusive business: Ecuador's cocoa producers - A better ladder for small suppliers

Ethical Corporation, 5 September 2007

Integrating small producers into the supply chain of large companies is not always easy. A pilot programme in Ecuador provides an example of how ‘inclusive business' can be done.

Cocoa production is hard work. First the cocoa pods have to be harvested, then the pulp removed, and the seeds extracted and fermented for 24 hours and laid out to dry. But the really hard part is selling the end product.

For the 56 members of the Catarama cocoa growers' association, things are now a fraction easier. Every year, these farmers from Ecuador's Los Ríos province produce between 60 and 80 tonnes of cocoa. Since 2006, they have struck on a fixed market for their crates of seeds.

The Catarama associates are positioned at one end of an "inclusive business" pilot scheme. At the other end is Universal Sweets. Part of the Nobis consortium, Ecuador's second largest industrial group, the confectionary company produces chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa liquors and consumer cocoas. In short, they need a lot of cocoa.

The two came together through the Alliance for Inclusive Business, an experimental project being run by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and SNV, the Netherlands development organisation.

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