History, Culture and Economics; A Peace Corps Perspective of Cacao Growers in Southern

Ecuador

Alex Gehrig

Department of Forest Resources

Outline

• Institutional background• Study goals• Process and methods• Findings• Conclusions and

recommendations

• Understanding of cacao growers livelihoods– History, Economics and Farmer perceptions

• Effects on development efforts

Theobroma cacao

• Chocolate bars do grow on trees (sort of)– 50% of production in West Africa– Opportunities for economic/env. sustainability

(Scroth et al 2007, Sonwa et al 2007)

• Ecuador– 3% of world production– 50% of fine aroma quality beans– 100,000 farmers

Half on 10 ha. or less

Peace Corps

• Government and grass roots• The three goals

– Help the people of interested countries meet their needs– Promote a better understanding of America– Promote a better understanding of host country

• Shumiral– Focus on cacao - extension– Challenges – Division over history, environment– Contact with ACDI/VOCA

Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance

ACDI/VOCAAgricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in

Overseas Cooperative Assistance

Decline in quantity and quality of cacao beans – potential loss of price premiums

• Funded through partnerships: USDA, chocolate• Ecuador: work with 20,000 farmers through FFS

ACDI/VOCA

• Capacitate producers in BMPs and agriculture as business– Phytosanitation,

pruning, post harvest practices, nutrition, accounting

– Strengthen marketing chain through associations and cooperatives

Cacao today

• Market asymmetry– Lack of technical resources, information– Poor standard of quality measure and control

• Market access of the individual farmer– Work through intermediaries– Necessity of cooperatives or associations

- Forgo intermediaries, better negotiate price for a more consistent higher volume product

Study goals

• Local perception of cacao as a lazy person’s crop• Facilitators perception of organization problems

– FFS in Shumiral– Why do some communities work and others not?

• A framework to understand where project goals fit into growers’ livelihoods

• Indentify potential barriers to implementation

Report to ACDI/VOCA

Basic guide for future change agents

Source: Striffler 2002

Study Area

Methods

• Conduct semi-formal interviews with participants– Contact through ACDI/VOCA

– Recorded

– Participants chose time and place

– Farm visit to establish current practices

• Background research – context – History

– Market structure for cacao

Historical context• Cacao as first major export 1500-1900

– First large source of government revenue

– Movement of labor, top down management, the individual

• Disease and WWI decimate crop – movement toward banana• Enter United Fruit and enclave production in Tenguel

– Acted as state– Provided infrastructure, community organization

Agrarian Reform

• 60’s and 70’s • Marginal Lands – Shumiral farmers retain land• Cooperatives around Tenguel

– Lack of resources– “Interest” of capitalist farmers

• Contract labor– Landed capitalist owners of large scale production– Foreign nationals remove physical presence

Groups made up of the bourgeois formed and they came from other

counties and other provinces and took possession here. They went on

buying and extended themselves until the campesinos later became their workers (020).

Interview Findings

• Demographics (n=30)– 26 to 70 years – 49– Farm size: 1/3 – 12 ha.

3.8ha– Importance of cacao:

Primary income (n=9)

Cacao/other crop (n=8)

Cacao/wage labor (n=3)

Other crop (n=2)

Secondary to off farm labor (n=8)

Main study area

Interview Findings – “salient issues”

• Livelihood security (n=13)– Theft (n=5)– Environmental risk (n=4)Here in this area we are at the mercy of God. We have farms in the low part by the

river and if it’s a strong wet season we are left under water. . . but as we have no where else to plant. . . 002

– Institutional weakness (n=4)Social and politicalHere there is too much rivalry, it’s not like in your country where

the president and congress work and get things done, no here there is too much rivalry between politicians, they kill each other. That’s why agriculture is abandoned, they give a little importance to banana but not to cacao. The interest in cacao now is because of the companies like ACDI/VOCA. 009

Interview Findings

• Community Division (n=13)– Information exchange and product sale as prompts– Brought up as history; past attempts that failed,

corrupt leaders, “individualism”– Almost a normative value (Shumiral)

The most tenebrous thing about this country, and especially here around Tenguel is the problem of disorganization. To unite the people is an impossible goal. You have to go door to door, you might call on a hundred people to come to a meeting, maybe ten will show up. I don’t know what we need to do to start uniting people. 020

Interview Findings

• Social Structure (n=16)• Marginalized, Abandoned In this country the poor people like us are marginalized, and it’s because we

don’t know how to speak up and demand help from our government. . . Sadly, they come from other parts to see how ignorant we are, that’s what you are doing. 002

• Recognition through market– Lack of credit, unfair business practices (selling)

• Organizational norms– Leadership, accountability and empowerment

• Deeply rooted understanding – Don Leo

Interview Findings

• The nature of cacao• Low labor, long term investment (n=13)

– In contrast to options: Corn, plantain, rice

• Relative low risk– against banana (n=9)

• Part of a diverse system of income– Other crops– Off farm labor n=13, 7 – majority of their incomeThe poorest people have cacao. I don’t like banana, it’s a lot of spending

and investing. I’ve always preferred cacao, you spend less and with banana you always have to be there taking care of it. 003

Innovation Diffusion

• Relative advantage (Rogers 2003)– Increased income through

higher yield, post harvest– Sense of empowerment

through knowledge– Independence

• Compatibility– Some practices fit well

(phytosanitation), others not (grafting)

– Cacao as low labor/secondary crop and off farm opportunities

– Weather, theft– Other labor options-

consistent cash

Social Capital

• Collective action• Geography matters

(Porter and Lyon, 2006)

– Banana plantations – option in terms of labor

– Fluidity of Location between GYE and Machala

– MovementSanctions and Trust

Successful Cooperation

• Preliminary Observations– More remote– Fewer sales options– Closer kinship ties– Off-farm labor

opportunities?– Historical context?

Summary/Conclusion

Challenges• Strong presence of

top – down structures– History of cacao

production– United Fruit and

paternalism

• Geography – effects of fluidity on trust

Need• Farmer perceptions

– Marginalized, abandoned - market

– Livelihood security– Deeply rooted sense

of hierarchies, leaders– Cacao as low labor,

long term investment

Conclusion

• ACDI/VOCA priority to existing coop/assoc– Organization success– Leads to better access to information,

markets = empowerment– Provides more opportunity for revealing

relative advantages

• Important barrier to the broader goal– Increasing quality and farmer income may not

be possible without collective action

Recommendations

• Triage – implications for the future

• Creating Social Capital – donor priorities

• Focus Efforts– Gain a better understanding of community

organization and social capitalPlantation labor and community

– How unique is this area within Ecuador?– Are there other factors that lead to success?

Acknowledgements

ACDI/VOCA

T.J. Ryan

Lorena Ayala

Alexandra Rivera

Farmer friends

Julio Camacho

Ing. Franklin Alba

Committee

Dean Current

Kristen Nelson

Ken Brooks