CocoaAction Brasil uses regenerative farming to empower small-scale cocoa farmers and positively impact cocoa production systems.

While multinational corporations control much of the sale and profits of the world’s chocolate, the majority of the world’s cocoa beans are grown on small farms in the Global South. When it comes to producing cocoa sustainably and ethically, farmers often lack the technical knowledge and resources to implement such practices. This is the case in Brazil—the sixth largest producer of cocoa on the planet—where upwards of 95,000 growers produce cocoa. To promote sustainability with a focus on the grower, CocoaAction Brasil, a comprehensive public-private pre-competitive initiative, launched in 2018.

CocoaAction Brasil works with value chain partners to align and develop the cocoa chain and promote knowledge exchange and synergies with existing work, giving special attention to sustainability. The initiative enables value chain partners to do so in four key ways: 1) working with producers to increase yield and quality and improve farm management; 2) working with communities to strengthen working conditions, youth and gendered work, and labour unions; 3) working with the government on reforestation, agroforestry and land conservation; and 4) working across the value chain to increase access to funding and land regulation, information management and governance. 

In working with policymakers, CocoaAction Brasil has supported the publication of the Normative Instructions of Pará and Rondônia (two northern Brazilian states), which enable the recovery of legal reserves through cocoa cultivation in agroforestry systems. It has further revised Ordinances in the Bahia and Espírito Santo states that regulate the management of the cabruca cocoa cultivation system and reinforce its relevance to the preservation of the Atlantic Forest. It also contributed to improving the Plano Safra (Crop Plan) 2021–2022, based on submissions from stakeholders and advocacy with the Ministry of Economy. These measures generate socio-environmental benefits, generate income for families and stimulate biodiversity conservation.

CocoaAction Brasil also worked to increase small growers’ access to credit between 2017 and 2021 by 240% through multiple initiatives. For one, it coordinated GT Crédito, a working group that specifically addresses credit in the cocoa chain, linked with the Cocoa and Agroforestry Systems Sectoral Chamber of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply. It obtained the inclusion of rural residents in the Pronaf Floresta credit line and cocoa grown in agroforestry systems in the Pronaf Bioeconomia credit line. Finally, in partnership with the International Labour Organisation, CocoaAction Brasil involved more than 50 entities of the public and private sectors and civil society to produce the Cacau 2030 Strategic Guidelines, a set of guiding actions for the sustainable development of cocoa production focused on decent labour and better living conditions.

One company that has directly benefited from CocoaAction Brasil’s initiatives is Dengo Chocolates—a sustainable and ethical chocolate company based in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Dengo encourages organic cocoa, regenerative agriculture and agroforestry with 100% of the brand's cocoa coming from traditional agroforestry systems known as cabruca. For its chocolate production, the company only purchases cocoa from local producers, and farmers receive more for the product they deliver—with Dengo paying a premium of up to 160% of the market value for high-quality cocoa beans.

Dengo has found success and made a major impact on local communities by connecting small- and medium-scale farmers who are interested in creating a high-quality product, thus establishing a network of local farmers for the mass production of chocolate. The network follows the cultivation process set out by Dengo to achieve the best possible cocoa. The company provides free technical consultancy and access to knowledge about harvesting, fermenting and drying cocoa beans. Today, the network consists of around 200 families of farmers and a part of the company’s profits are shared with these farmers.

To date, Dengo boasts 100% student attendance, while 38% of its in-network farmers earn above the minimum living wage and 45% have access to credit. To further embed sustainability into its products, 34% of Dengo's products are sold in bulk, packaging is just 7% plastic and entirely recyclable. Some packaging is even made from cocoa-based paper using production by-products. By designing its products sustainably and tapping into traditional cabruca agroforestry methods, the company has preserved 20 hectares of Brazilian forest.

Photo by Etty Fidele on Unsplash