Regenerating cocoa farms

Access to finance is often an issue for cocoa farmers. In Nigeria, for example, many cocoa trees are ageing and unproductive, with some farms filled with trees that are more than 50 years old.

To address this, ECOM has created a central nursery, where cocoa seedlings are planted and grown for distribution to farmers. In the first half of 2023, more than 100,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings were planted at the central nursery site and over 95,500 plants distributed.

A similar nursery in Mexico produced 500,000 cocoa plants and agroforestry trees annually, with young trees taking just 4–5 months to grow.