Public-Private Sectors Team up to Revitalize Africa's Cocoa Industry

The Executive Committee of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) met in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire to assess performance and discuss issues facing West and Central Africa's cocoa economy. Representatives of national and international institutions were encouraged to enhance partnerships concerning the agricultural sector, towards the transformation of rural economies in sub-Saharan Africa.

STCP was launched in 2000 by cocoa growers from the region, with support from the World Cocoa Foundation, and US Agency for International Development. The program is being managed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). In its ten years of existence, STCP has been introducing production, marketing, and institutional innovations in the cocoa sector aimed at improving the economic and social well being of tree crop farmers. STCP's training is said to have increased average cocoa yields in the region by 15 to 40 percent.

 For more information on STCP, contact Cynthia Prah at c.prah@cgiar.org, See the full article at http://www.cgiar.org/newsroom/releases/news.asp?idnews=884 or http://www.iita.org/cms/details/news_details.aspx?articleid=2341&zoneid=81