PISA: Enhancing the Cacao Value Chain by Training Producers

Since 2016, PISA partnered with APROCANO for cacao purchases, traceability and certifications. APROCANO is a young cacao producer organization of 1,227 smallholders spread across the 7 communes in which PISA purchases wet cacao. PISA has consistently supported APROCANO with the required trainings for certification, governance and traceability.

Between July and December 2021, the project hired BUPRODER, Bureau de Promotion pour le Développement Rural, to help strengthen APROCANO and to help identify potential trainers for the producers. A first group of 19 people was trained. They were selected from among internal controllers, Steering Committee members for producer Cells and educated producers. Eleven of them completed and passed their training and were selected to lead the first APROCANO summer producer training program.

In July 2022, APROCANO, supported by PISA, launched a training program for producers consisting of three modules:

Module 1: Rules and Principles of Organic Agriculture - producers are trained on the principles of production to comply with organic production standards and traceability.

Module 2: The principles of fair trade with a focus on the definition of child labor and pricing policy

Module 3: the structure of APROCANO and the organization and rules of producers' cells in order to prepare the Annual General Assembly.

This program started with PISA's training of trainers on the three modules then replicated in the field. This training program is co-funded by PISA and the APROCANO Fair For Life fund. A PISA and APROCANO committee representative were present at each training session to support the new trainers and assist with the training in general.

“This training program is much needed for our members, and it will definitely reinforce our organization. This is an excellent opportunity for the producers to get to know and understand the organization they are part of. I am grateful for the Fair For Life certification and its development fund that allows us to realize such an important activity.’’ Maxime Lucson from APROCANO’s development fund committee.

Two of the three modules were successfully delivered in all 31 producer cells and the third one is rescheduled due to socio political unrest.