The MaMaBay region in the north of Madagascar is in particularly great need of protection as one of the world’s most biodiverse places. But rapid population growth and a lack of income sources have led farmers to cultivate swathes of forest for foodstuffs, cocoa, cloves and vanilla. This deforestation erodes the soil and reduces its fertility, thereby further accelerating the exploitation of cultivation areas and hence deforestation. This is where HALBA, together with its partners Coop, Ecotop and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – as well as Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (until 2023) and SECO with SWISSCO (from 2025) – comes in with its sustainability project. The project has been ongoing since 2019.
The project promotes the sustainable cultivation of cocoa through dynamic agroforestry (DAF). Its objective is to establish a new cocoa value chain that will improve income opportunities in the region. This is intended to reduce the farmers’ dependency on cloves and vanilla, currently their most important export products, and contribute to their food safety.
With DAF, farmers can grow a wide range of other food products in addition to vanilla and cocoa all year round on less land, which yields them a higher income and ensures that their food needs are met. At the same time, forests that are essential for biodiversity are retained and protected. In the second phase of the project (2025–2028), the plan is to triple the number of cocoa farmers from 212 to 662 and expand the DAF cultivation area from 52 to 162 hectares. To improve supply chain management and the marketing of by-products, a conservation enterprise will be established to give 80 % of project farmers access to markets for their DAF products. The sustainability project also supports both cooperatives in improving their organisational structures and expanding the cocoa value chain. The management and operational capacity of the cooperatives and post-harvest processes are also to be further strengthened.
