I belong to a family of several generations of cocoa farmers: Both my father and grandfather cultivated cocoa, and I have been doing so since I was 17 years old. My daily work starts at 8 a.m. and continues until midday, when I take a break at home, especially during a hot day. I resume in the afternoon at 3 p.m. and work until 6 p.m. The daily tasks I accomplish consist mainly of harvesting pods, breaking them to extract the cocoa beans, pruning my trees, maintaining the soil, and improving the fertility of the land.

Cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire face a variety of problems, including soil degradation and plant diseases. The cocoa trees are old and the soil fertility depletes as we grow the same crop on it over 40 years. Productivity falls, and we do not have enough access to compost and fertilizer. We also lack access to planting materials [seeds and seedlings]. Through Cocoa Life trainings, we learn pruning techniques that have raised the quantity and quality of the cocoa harvested. Prior to the Cocoa Life trainings, there were cocoa tree diseases that I didn't know how to treat. Now, I know methods to protect my trees from the diseases, and that has increased my harvest. Before joining the Cocoa Life program, I was producing 350 kilograms of cocoa per hectare. Today, after two and a half years in the program, my yield has almost doubled, to 600 kilos per hectare.

For years, many cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire were selling their produce to individual buyers at prices unfavorable to farmers. Due to Cocoa Life and CARE International, more farmers joined the partner farmer organization and sell cocoa under better terms of trade, with premiums and volumes agreed upon up front.

All of my children, eight boys and three girls, are in school. I would like for my children to follow in my footsteps and become cocoa farmers. With help from the Cocoa Life program, we have increased yields and are working together to build a thriving and prospering community.