Agroforestry systems in Cameroon and around the world: what definitions and ambitions for sustainable cocoa?

Brussels, 18-19 April – Cameroon’s Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Council (CICC), FAO and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), organized a two-day workshop in Brussels on the theme of Agroforestry systems in Cameroon and around the world: what definitions and ambitions for sustainable cocoa? – as part of the Sustainable Cocoa Partnership funded by the European Union. 

The workshop aimed at exploring how the environmental and socioeconomic benefits of smallholder cocoa agroforestry systems can be better recognized and supported. 

The European Union's regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR), adopted in June 2023 to ensure that the products consumed by European citizens do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide, is set to affect cocoa and coffee production systems among others, as it comes into force in December 2024.  

The workshop brought together a variety of key actors from all across the cocoa value chain, including cocoa farmers, chocolate producers, officials from governments, the European Commission and other international organizations, as well as researchers and non-governmental organizations. 

Agroforestry cocoa production systems are at the core of the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative (SCI) launched by the European Commission (EC) in partnership with the FAO Investment Centre, the European Forest Institute (EFI), the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ) and the EC’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).