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UN PhotoFAO / CÔTE D'IVOIRE COCOA PRODUCTION
STORY: FAO / CÔTE D’IVOIRE COCOA PRODUCTION
TRT: 04:45
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: SEE THE SHOT LIST
06-16 MARCH 2026, COMOÉ DISTRICT, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
1. Wide shot, drone footage, forest area in Comoé District.
2. Various shots, Cocoa producers Nicole Kambou and her husband Ouattara Seydou walk in their cocoa plantation and harvest cocoa fruits
3. Drone shot, cocoa farmer Nicole Kambou and her husband Ouattara Seydou emptying a cocoa pod of white pulp-covered cocoa beans by a large tree in their field
4. Various shots, Nicole Kambou and Ouattara Seydou watch an earth auger operator dig a hole in their plot and then plant a tree to provide shade to their cocoa trees
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Nicole Kambou, cocoa farmer:
“The climate has changed, the environment has changed after the trees were planted. Now, there isn’t much sun. The soil is rich now, but before it was dry. Thanks to the trees we have planted, the soil is rich now.”
06-16 MARCH 2026, AGBOVILLE DEPARTMENT, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
6. Various shots, cocoa farmer Landry Ohomon harvests cocoa pods and then extracts fresh cocoa beans from them in his cocoa plantation
7. SOUNDBITE (French), Landry Ohomon, cocoa farmer:
“Production has increased. I’ve had a very good yield after the implementation of agroforestry. Before, I was producing around eight to nine hundred kilos [of cocoa beans] a year. Last year, I produced just over 2,500 kilos, so I really welcome agroforestry in my plot.”
8. Wide shot, cocoa farmer Landry Ohomon walks in his cocoa plantation with FAO technical officer Zana Ouattara
9. Close up, cocoa trees in agroforestry system providing share to the cocoa pods
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Zana Ouattara, FAO technical officer in Côte d’Ivoire:
“These two trees, this cocoa tree and this shade tree, embody our vision for the future of cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire. Before FAO’s intervention, this cocoa tree was exposed to the sun. But with the introduction of this shade tree, in less than three years we can see that it is providing shade for the cocoa tree. And we also note that the yield of this cocoa tree has increased. As we can see, there are more pods on this cocoa tree, which benefits from the shade provided by the newly planted tree. This means that agroforestry is a solution for our cocoa farmers in the face of the effects of climate change.”
11. Wide shot, deforested area
12. Wide shot, fires in forest area caused by slash-and-burn agriculture
13. Wide shot, farmers engaged in agroforestry cocoa production working their lands
09 MARCH 2026, ABIDJAN, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
14. SOUNDBITE (English), Joseph Nyemah, FAO Representative in Côte d’Ivoire:
“Everybody now knows that if you want to continue cocoa production, if you want to produce more and [produce] quality cocoa, you need to have forests in the environment, on the fields.”
06-16 MARCH, CÉCHI TOWN, COTE D'IVOIRE
15. Various shots, FAO-supported farmer Sophier Ngbesso inspects dry cocoa beans in a cooperative
09 MARCH 2026, ABIDJAN, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
16. Wide shot, processing facility of dry cocoa beans at chocolate factory
17. Various shots, cocoa beans processing
27 MARCH 2026, ROME, ITALY
18. Wide shot, FAO Economist Emiliano Magrini walking at FAO headquarters
19. SOUNDBITE (English), Emiliano Magrini, FAO economist:
“Consumers cannot see the benefit of global cocoa price going down because it takes time. Usually, the response of chocolate prices is delayed with respect the changes in the cocoa price. Actually, an FAO analysis recently showed that it takes almost one year for the shock [of cocoa prices] to materialize at retail level [in chocolate prices]. And this is why, this [cocoa prices decrease] cannot be observed yet on chocolate prices. And of course, there are also other factors that go beyond the price of cocoa. It depends on energy cost, on transportation cost, on the other ingredients’ cost like milk, sugar.”
09 MARCH 2026, ABIDJAN, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
20. Various shots, chocolate production and packaging in a large factory outside Abidjan
06-16 MARCH 2026, AGBOVILLE DEPARTMENT, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
21. Wide shot, FAO-supported farmer Landry Ohomon cutting a cocoa pod
22. SOUNDBITE (French), Landry Ohomon, cocoa farmer:
“If you lower the price of cocoa too much, it will discourage farmers. I’ve seen some colleagues this year who’ve said, ‘The price of cocoa has dropped, so I’m not going to harvest my cocoa anymore.’ Some are doing just this right now. So, to encourage farmers, we need to raise the price [of cocoa] and support the producers.”
23. Wide shot, Landry Ohomon cutting a cocoa pod
09 MARCH 2026, ABIDJAN, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
24. Wide shot, Minister for Environment and Ecological Transition of Côte d'Ivoire, Abou Bamba, walking in the corridor of the Ministry
25. Tracking shot, Minister for Environment and Ecological Transition of Côte d'Ivoire, Abou Bamba, welcoming employees of the Ministry
08 MARCH 2026, GRAND-BASSAM, CÔTE D'IVOIRE
26. Wide shot, the town and beach of Grand-Bassam
Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire have seen a gradual improvement in cocoa production after the restoration of their land in recent years. Cocoa production in the world’s largest producer and exporter was hit by climate crises causing a sharp increase in the global price of the key ingredient of chocolate last year.
36-year-old Nicole Kambou has been a farmer since she was sixteen. Today, she works with her husband, Ouattara Seydou, in their 2.8-hectare cocoa plot in Abengourou, a cocoa-producing region located in the east of Côte d’Ivoire that has been severely deforested due to agricultural expansion.
The mother of four children, Kambou recalls that her plot had been largely cleared of trees, as farmers used to deforest areas to make room for new cocoa plantations. But after Kambou noticed that heat and droughts were damaging her cocoa trees and the soil, she tried a different approach.
With the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Kambou planted one hundred trees providing shade and improving soil health and moisture retention.
Shaded plantations reduce cocoa’s exposure to heat and drought, climate extremes that in 2023 caused a 22 percent annual drop in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire, according to FAO data. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for 70 percent of the global cocoa production.
Today, Kambou is one of more than 200,000 farmers supported by the “Scaling up cocoa-based food systems, land use and restoration transformative innovations in Cote D’Ivoire” project. Financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and part of the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program (FOLUR), this FAO project works with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to promote deforestation-free cocoa value chains and restores degraded cocoa-forest landscapes.
Nicole Kambou said: “The climate has changed, the environment has changed after the trees were planted. Now, there isn’t much sun. The soil is rich now, but it was dry before. Thanks to the trees we have planted, the soil is rich now.”
Some 100 kilometers southwest, in the district of Agboville, 42-year-old Landry Ohomon says that, with the aim of expanding his 2.5-hectare cocoa farm, he also deforested some areas and engaged in full sun cocoa production back in 2013. But Ohomon recalls that quick gains in production led to long-term land degradation and greater vulnerability in the face of climate extremes.
Ohomon joined another FAO project helping cocoa producers transition to agroforestry practices. Financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the project is named “Promoting zero-deforestation cocoa production for reducing emissions in Côte d’Ivoire, or PROMIRE”. Since 2021, it has been implemented in some 3,500 hectares in three regions (Agnéby-Tiassa, La Mé and Sud-Comoé) to support the country in achieving a green, low-carbon agricultural economy.
Ohomon received assistance to convert his full sun plot into a shaded agroforestry plot, with cocoa trees growing in the shade of other trees, some of them fruit trees. While he acknowledges the environmental and biodiversity benefits, Ohomon says production has also increased, providing his family with better income.
Landry Ohomon said: “Production has increased. I’ve had a very good yield after the implementation of agroforestry. Before, I was producing around eight to nine hundred kilos [of cocoa beans] a year. Last year, I produced just over 2,500 kilos, so I really welcome agroforestry in my plot.”
Through better land use, reforestation, and reduced deforestation, the PROMIRE project aims to help Côte d’Ivoire achieve its greenhouse gas emissions ambitions. The country has committed to reducing emissions from the forestry sector and other land uses by 19.6 percent compared to the baseline scenario by 2030.
Other farmers who, like Ohomon, transitioned to agroforestry with the support of FAO, have also improved cocoa production, says Zana Ouattara, FAO technical officer and technical advisor of the PROMIRE project, as he shows how the shade cover provides a better environment for cocoa production.
Zana Ouattara said, “These two trees, this cocoa tree and this shade tree, embody our vision for the future of cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire. Before FAO’s intervention, this cocoa tree was exposed to the sun. But with the introduction of this shade tree, in less than three years we can see that it is providing shade for the cocoa tree. And we also note that the yield of this cocoa tree has increased. As we can see, there are more pods on this cocoa tree, which benefits from the shade provided by the newly planted tree. This means that agroforestry is a solution for our cocoa farmers in the face of the effects of climate change.”
In the past, massive deforestation was a feature of agricultural expansion in Côte d’Ivoire, where cocoa cultivation is an essential activity for the livelihoods of approximately two million producers. From 16 million hectares at the beginning of the last century, the remaining forest areas of the country were estimated at 2,800,000 hectares in 2020, according to FAO data.
To address these challenges, the Government of Côte d’Ivoire engaged in an ambitious zero-deforestation agriculture policy, says Abou Bamba, Minister for Environment and Ecological Transition of Côte d'Ivoire. The country plans to reduce deforestation by 80 percent compared with 2015 and restore 5 million hectares of forest by 2030.
Joseph Nyemah, FAO Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, explains that this strategy is supported by farmers, who realized that forests are needed to “produce more” cocoa.
Nyemah said, “Everybody now knows that if you want to continue cocoa production, if you want to produce more and [produce] quality cocoa, you need to have forests in the environment, on the fields.”
Improvements in production achieved through agroforestry also benefit global consumers of chocolate by stabilizing cocoa production.
The fall in production driven by climate extremed sent cocoa and chocolate prices to record levels in 2024. Last year, production improved, prompting a drop in cocoa prices that still needs to be reflected in chocolate products, explains FAO economist Emiliano Magrini.
Emiliano Magrini said, “Consumers cannot see the benefit of global cocoa price going down because it takes time. Usually, the response of chocolate prices is delayed with respect to the changes in the cocoa price. Actually, an FAO analysis recently showed that it takes almost one year for the shock [of cocoa prices] to materialize at retail level [in chocolate prices]. And this is why, this [cocoa prices decrease] cannot be observed yet on chocolate prices. And of course, there are also other factors that go beyond the price of cocoa. It depends on energy cost, on transportation cost, on the other ingredients’ cost like milk, sugar.”
The government of Côte d’Ivoire, which regulates the price paid to cocoa farmers, has cut the price by over 60 percent in recent weeks.
Reflecting on price fluctuations, cocoa farmer Ohomon says producers need to receive a fair price to continue production.
Landry Ohomon said: “If you lower the price of cocoa too much, it will discourage farmers. I’ve seen some farmers this year who’ve said, ‘The price of cocoa has dropped, so I’m not going to harvest my cocoa anymore.’ Some are doing just this right now. So, to encourage farmers, we need to raise the price [of cocoa] and support producers.”
The European Union represents the main outlet for cocoa exports from Côte d'Ivoire.
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