Shared knowledge and experiences in West Africa

Haeun Lee, originally from South Korea, is a Ph. D. student in applied economics at SLU. Her doctorate project "Gender Equality and Climate Resilience of West African Cacao-Dependent Households” is financed by Vetenskapsrådet, and deals with equality and climate issues within West African cocoa farming. 

As part of Haeun’s doctorate work, she travels to West Africa to do data collecting, interviews and evaluations. In January, she and a few SLU colleagues visited the Ivory Coast. Specifically Abidjan and a few villages in Divo, a couple of hours south of the capital. 

- Looking back on the trip, I feel so grateful that I get to experience this. It’s always inspiring seeing how people work to improve farmers’ lives and I’m learning so much every time. There are challenges of course, but we solve then with great teamwork, says Haeun. 

Old truths no longer valid

The Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa with more than 30 percent of the total production. Lately though, climate change has had a devastating effect on the farming, causing headaches for farmers. Because the country produces so much, this affects global cocoa prices.

A year like 2026, when the climate phenomenon El Niño is predicted to reach a "super" intensity, the effect is even more noticeable, with a predicted decline in cocoa yields.

Francisco Aguilar is a professor of forest economics at SLU Umeå. He was one of the researchers partaking in the trip. Francisco says climate change can be summed up as old truths no longer being valid. 

- Climate change disrupts historical climate and weather patterns. For example, rain can become more sporadic and harder to predict, with long periods of drought and intermittent heavy rain showers. This changes how cocoa trees bloom which in turn affects how many fruits they form. And since the trees are already stressed, they become more sensitive to various diseases, says Francisco. 

Aging trees

Many farmers have aging trees that are generally more sensitive to disease than younger ones. This means they are less resistant even without climate change. 

- Many cocoa trees are old, and re-planting is very expensive. Many farmers cannot afford it. This means the trees are more sensitive, just like with humans. In the end, it affects the harvest, leading to lower yields and economic consequences for farmers and their families, says Francisco.

Workshop with farmers

In Abidjan, Haeun Lee and the rest of the SLU team conducted a workshop with 20 local farmers. The workshop was part of Lee’s doctorate work, evaluating her previous interviews and data collecting, as well as giving farmers an opportunity to feedback and learn new skills. 

The farmers partook in group sessions and discussions. The basic questions dealt with climate change and gender equality. Specifically what measures farmers think work best to mitigate the effects of climate change. 

Tika pleased

Tika Yao, 46, is a cocoa farmer from Sakota. He is married with four children and has worked in cocoa farming for 15 years – a profession he inherited from his father. He farms 15 hectares which, according to Tika, is pretty standard. 

- Farming is fun. Having a farm is like having a child. You have to take care of it, give it water and nourishment and let it grow, says Tika. 

During his 15 years of farming, Tika has seen his yield increase, partly because he had the foresight to replace his father’s old trees with younger ones, and partly because of more efficient farming methods.

The seasons stretch from October to January and from April to June. During a year, Tika is able to harvest up to six times. A good harvest is typically around 600 kilos of cocoa. 

- You have to find ways to improve your farming; you can’t go on like you always have. A modern farmer needs to be creative and find new solutions all the time, says Tika. 

Sensing change

Climate change has affected Tika and his colleagues a lot. Drought and diseases like swollen shoot make harvests difficult to predict. 

- Every year I lose about 20 trees. The earth is hard and compact, so we have to turn it so water and nutrients can penetrate. It’s hard to make a living only farming cocoa. You have to diversify with livestock, and many re-plant with other crops like oil palms because they require less care. It’s sad but inevitable, says Tika.

Radio stars

The workshop was one of the cornerstones of the trip. The other was disseminating knowledge to the public. Both on climate change and on gender issues.

Communication happened mainly over radio, with great support from SLU Global. Thanks to competent colleagues on-site, SLU was able to be heard in not one, not two but three different radio stations and networks. Two of them were in-studio interviews live on air. 

The first station was Radio Sud Bandama, located in Divo, where Haeun Lee and Francisco Aguilar were interviewed on a local morning show. The station was perhaps not the most modern one out there, but it makes popular and relevant shows for an enthusiastic local audience. After some technical mishaps, a great conversation was had on issues like Swedish chocolate consumption and the effects of climate change on Ivorian farmers. 

- It was fun and a bit nerve-racking to go on air. The fact that we had some technical issues was actually good, because I felt less nervous when we actually went out. I hope we made ourselves understood and got our message across, said Haeun Lee after the broadcast finished. 

Post-broadcast, the team swiftly moved on to the next station: Radio Djiboua, an FM station in another part of Divo. Here, Lee and Aguilar were again interviewed about their work and how climate change and gender issues affect cocoa farmers in the region.

Once finished, the SLU’ers were also interviewed on tape by a Radio Côte d'Ivoire reporter who had shadowed them during the week. Radio Côte d'Ivoire, part of the RTI family, is a large media conglomerate in the Ivory Coast, equal to Sveriges Radio in Sweden. 

- I was once again nervous, but it felt good to have my colleagues with me. It was great being able to connect my research to the real world. Seeing how radio programmes can reach farmers made me feel that my research can have an impact on lives beyond academia, says Haeun Lee. 

Funding

SLU’s trip to the Ivory Coast was funded with grants from SLU Global and Vetenskapsrådet, from the project Gender equality and climate resilience of West African cacao-dependent households (VR 2023-05955).

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Radio Côte d'Ivoire

Radio Sud Bandama

Radio Djiboua

SLU Global

ICRAF

Vetenskapsrådet