Financial management interventions Globally, the gap between available credit and smallholder demand exceeds €128 billion, with credit often channelled through cooperatives or companies. 52 Research by Agriterra, an international cooperative agri-agency, and Tony’s Open Chain indicates that access to financial services – such as credit, savings and insurance – remains limited in rural Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, restricting households’ ability to invest, manage shocks and maintain stable consumption. 53 Low digital literacy among cocoa farmers further hampers the effective use of digital finance tools, making targeted training and capacity-building key interventions towards improving access to financial services. Evidence shows that enabling digital payments can enhance financial autonomy for women farmers in particular. Research by the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa identified 5 key factors that are required to successfully implement financing schemes for cocoa farmers: 54 1. Strong partnerships with value chain actors 2. Technical support to build business and farming skills 3. Financial products tailored to farmers’ needs and cash flow In partnership with Agriterra, we are promoting financial inclusion through technology, such as mobile banking, (targeting 14,000 cooperative members) and piloting financial literacy training (targeting 1,500 members) with 6 partner cooperatives. These initiatives are expected to reach 33% and 4% respectively of the total cocoa farmers in our supply chain for the 2025/26 season. Our aim is to scale up these initiatives across the cocoa supply chain, with a particular focus on empowering women. Through the 100Weeks project, we collaborate with 10 partner cooperatives over 100 weeks to upskill farmers, while Agriterra equips the cooperatives to receive mobile money premiums. Farming business case interventions Our 5-year Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) study and recent farmer surveys highlight the growing importance and cost of hired labour in cocoa farming. In 2023/24, 65% of cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and 87% in Ghana used hired labour, 55 building on a general trend of increased usage of hired labour since 2022/23. 56 Partner 4. Bundled financial and non-financial services 5. Use of digital tools to reduce costs and risks
cooperatives are increasingly supplying labourers, reflecting the need for professional labour regardless of household size and challenging traditional family farming models.
In 2024, Tony’s Open Chain research on labour brigades as a child labour remediation strategy found that subsidised adult labour reduced reliance on children for hazardous tasks. 57 In Côte d’Ivoire, 90% of farmers using labour brigades reported reduced reliance on their family for labour, and 85% said their children no longer participated in agricultural work after receiving support. 58 Supporting agribusinesses to provide professional, affordable labour services not only integrates best practices and technology but also creates employment opportunities for young people, which is especially valuable where land access is limited. The interventions implemented by these agribusinesses are expected to further increase yields, thereby directly impacting farmers’ incomes. We are committed to upskilling and investing in these agribusinesses towards achieving these results. Healthcare interventions Together with the supply chain sustainability company Elucid, donors GIZ and DEG, as well as the Chocolonely Foundation, we are implementing health initiatives in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to improve the health and livelihoods of cocoa-farming households and communities. Elucid is responsible for on-the-ground execution and alignment with national authorities, supporting farmer and healthcare provider engagement, claims management and mobile clinic operations. These projects aim to reach 8,000 households across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana between 2024 and 2028, increasing enrolment in national health insurance and partnering with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, to vaccinate children against malaria and cervical cancer. For 2024/25, specific results included supporting 3,170 families and 12,122 individuals to get healthcare coverage, funding 6,746 doctor visits, and onboarding 49 healthcare facilities into the CHASI network. 59 These health initiatives are designed to build resilience by protecting cocoa farmers from poverty due to healthcare costs or productivity losses. Poor health can result in increased absenteeism and reduced productivity, potentially leading to negative coping mechanisms such as a reliance on child labour. Our long-term sustainability plan includes transitioning financial responsibilities to cooperatives. 52. Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa. (2019). Access to Finance for Cocoa: Challenges and Opportunities for a More Sustainable Cocoa Sector, p.3 (USD 150 billion). 53. Tony’s Open Chain and Agriterra, The Future of Farmer Empowerment: Enabling living income through an inclusive, farmer-centric approach to the digital revolution , Local impact report, 2024. 54. Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa. Access to Finance for Cocoa: Challenges and Opportunities for a More Sustainable Cocoa Sector, 2019. 55. This finding is based on data from a Tony’s Open Chain farmer survey conducted between April and July 2025 across 2,953 farmers from 15 partner cooperatives. 56. Tony’s Open Chain. Multi-dimensional Poverty Index Report (May 2025), p.3. 57. Tony’s Open Chain. Impact Report 2023-24, p.60. 58. Ibid. 59. Cocoa Community Health and Sustainability Initiative (CHASI). The CHASI project (2024-2027) works to enrol all farmers in Ghana’s national health insurance, as well as covering additional essential care not covered by the national system.
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Ending exploitation in cocoa together
Living income
Climate, environment & productivity
Human rights
Governance & finances
Interesting appendices
Scaling for change
Introduction
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