Within the Sustainable Cocoa Landscapes project (Paisajes Sostenibles de Cacao, Phase II), financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO and implemented by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, ECOTOP installs and accompanies demonstration plots of dynamic agroforestry with cocoa in the San Martín region of Peru.
The service runs from May to October 2026: design of the plots with the producers, participatory installation and field training, technical follow-up and a final report that systematises what was learnt for replication.
The plots are in the provinces of Mariscal Cáceres and Tocache, with members of the cooperative ACOPAGRO in Juanjuí and of the CECAT cooperatives in Tocache. Most cocoa fields there are 12 to 19 years old and in monoculture: aged trees exposed to full sun, dieback, recurrent fungal diseases and compacted soils with little organic matter.
The objective is to show, on the producers’ own land, how a cocoa field is brought back into a layered, productive system: fruit and timber trees in the upper strata, pruning species for biomass and nitrogen, and short-cycle crops that cover the soil and bring income while the system establishes.
ECOTOP works alongside the HELVETAS field team and the cooperative technicians, so that the management of the plots stays in local hands after the installation phase.
• Participatory design of a replicable plot layout (Design A) adapted to each site: fruit and timber trees at 9 × 9 m, guaba and pruning species at 3 × 3 m, plantain at 6 × 6 m, short-cycle crops in the cocoa alleys
• Installation of six demonstration plots in June and July 2026 with producers, their families and cooperative technicians
• Field training on each plot: observation of the current system, the successional model, soil reading and the pruning calendar
• Diagnosis of further plots in the Huallaga basin and technical follow-up of the installed plots
HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation – implements the Sustainable Cocoa Landscapes project in San Martín, financed by SECO and supported by the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO).
ACOPAGRO and the CECAT cooperatives – the producer organisations whose members host the demonstration plots.
