Financed by the Anton Jurgens Fonds and led by Organic Development Services (ODS) with Tradin Organic, the project Dynamic Agroforestry for Resilience and Prosperity builds on the regenerative organic cocoa agroforestry work in Sierra Leone and takes it to the next stage: more farmers, farmer-run pruning services and learning tools that work at scale.
ECOTOP designs the agroforestry systems, provides the content for the training modules and trains farmers and technicians. It also monitors the impact and adjusts the approach where needed.
Smallholder cocoa yields in the districts of Kono, Kenema, Kailahun, Bo and Tonkolili often average around 200 kg per hectare. Aging trees, degraded soils, pests and diseases and the lack of means to invest keep the farms in a low-productivity trap.
Dynamic agroforestry has shown in the first project phase that pruning, diversification and soil cover change this picture. The new phase addresses what keeps farmers from applying it: skilled labour for pruning, and the time it takes to train every farmer in person.
Work gangs, a proven concept in West African farming, are organised as pruning service groups. The project subsidises their services at the start and reduces the subsidy over time, so that the groups develop a viable business beyond the project period.
• Transition of 775 new farmers to dynamic agroforestry through lead farmers and farmer rings, building on the farmer field schools set up by Tradin Sierra Leone
• Pruning service groups (work gangs) trained and equipped, with services subsidised at 100 % in year one and 50 % in year two
• A blended learning platform with SkillEd: modules on DAF practices, customised to the local context, with ECOTOP providing the content
• Impact monitoring and adjustment of the approach by ECOTOP
Anton Jurgens Fonds – finances value chain development partnerships in West Africa.
Organic Development Services (ODS) – lead organisation of the project, with Tradin Organic and Tradin Sierra Leone.
