Tradin Organic: Regenerative organic cocoa
Supported by a €1.85 million grant from the European Union,
Tradin Organic and its partner ECOTOP aim to convert 1,100 hectares of savannah and idle farmland in Sierra Leone, West Africa into dynamic agroforestry systems over the period 2023–2027.
Tradin Organic and its consortium of partners will work on deforestation prevention and improving cocoa farmers’ livelihoods by further building regenerative agroforestry systems. Tradin Organic and its partners organize sourcing, training, seedling distribution, and community projects through an intricate network of 153 Farmer Field Schools. The investment will be used to merge and scale two existing programmes to boost productivity and livelihoods whilst protecting nature and biodiversity. In the Agroforestry Program, thousands more farmers will be trained on dynamic agroforestry with partner Ecotop and plant over 1,000 hectares with various crops and trees.
The agroforestry systems being developed in Sierra Leone are designed to be balanced and resilient to climate change. By integrating diverse tree and crop species, these systems create habitats that support wildlife and contribute to the preservation of ecosystems.
The importance of these conditions for global cocoa production is increasing, as conventional agriculture is under pressure from rising energy and input prices and increasingly affected by erosion, droughts and storms – key drivers of biodiversity loss. In Sierra Leone, Tradin Organic uses a Regenerative Organic Certified system. This certification, which goes beyond regular organic standards, requires farmers to actively improve soil health and foster biodiversity.
In addition, Tradin Organic will further explore the use of ‘carbon removal units’ as a way to reward farmers for the additional carbon sequestered by the trees on their farms. This not only helps offset unavoidable emissions for Tradin Organic’s customers – companies striving to meet Net Zero targets – but also contributes to biodiversity. By encouraging the growth of diverse tree species and agroforestry systems, carbon sequestration efforts support habitats, protect ecosystems, and enhance soil health, directly addressing challenges to biodiversity. This could offer companies with Net Zero targets an impactful way to offset any unavoidable emissions.