Organizing farmers as an emancipatory factor: creating a cocoa supply chain in Sao Tome

THE ORGANISATION OF FARMERS AS AN EMANCIPATORY FACTOR

THE SETTING UP OF A SUPPLY CHAIN OF COCOA IN SÃO TOMÉ

Michel Dulcire

CIRAD, UMR Innovation,

34398 Montpellier - France

michel.dulcire@cirad.fr

(+33)(0)4 67 61 57 58

Dulcire, M. (2012). The organisation of farmers as an emancipatory factor: The setting up of a supply chain of cocoa in São Tomé. The Journal of Rural and Community Development, 7(2), 131-141.

Abstract

Few studies have examined the implementation and evolution development of a contract as a learning process for the actors involved. Individual farmers in São Tomé were obliged to organise themselves into a collective in response to a chocolate manufacturer’s innovative proposal of an organic cocoa, fair trade contract. This relational construction between actors is a basis and guarantee of the contract’s durability. We analyse how the relationship between the manufacturer and the farmers evolved, the technical and organisational impact on the farmers, and the farmers’ future perspectives. Our aim is to further understanding of whether the establishment of such a collective cocoa contract may be a means of achieving autonomy. In other words, we explore whether it presents an answer to the question of producer emancipation.

Key words: cocoa, community, emancipation, farmers’ organisation, innovation, learning process, partnership, São Tome.

JEL-Codes: L14, O1, O32, Q13, R00

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Cocoa was introduced to São Tomé by Portuguese settlers at the end of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, São Tomé rapidly had become the world’s largest exporter of cocoa. The island became known as "Chocolate Island", and the owners of the large cocoa plantations imposed onerous conditions on farm workers. Over the years that followed, production regularly diminished. Since independence, cocoa production has stagnated at a low level despite heavy investments by international organizations to revive the crop (PNUD, 2002). Attempts by various governments to diversify agriculture also have failed (Frynas et al. 2003). Cacao continues to be a market monocrop, the economic viability of which is no longer certain, and São Tomé must import between 75 and 80% of its food needs (ADB, 2009).

One of these rural renewal projects was launched in 1999 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFDA) and local authorities. This family farm support program (PAPAFPA) aims to coordinate projects seeking to bolster the particularly low incomes of small farmers (IFDA, 2010). These projects largely have focused on the production and export of cocoa produced by small farmers. They also have focused on the expansion of vegetables, fruits and cereals, the production of which remains insufficient to meet local consumption needs.

This was the context in which IFDA solicited the intervention of a French chocolate manufacturer specialized in high quality, aromatic cacao. This manufacturer wished to broaden his supply sources, and sought unique quality cacao produced through organic agriculture. To guarantee a steady supply of quality cocoa, he only wished to work with farmer’s collectives. The manufacturer required that post-harvest work be collective, and undertaken in community infrastructure. Lastly, the manufacturer set down his requirements in an equitable contract he intended to sign with interested cooperatives. Respect of the contract terms was expected to be verified by the member communities and by their cooperative.

The Organic Cacao Export Cooperative (Cooperativa de Exportação do Cacau Biológico, CECAB) was created in response to the manufacturer’s proposal. CECAB coordinates the communities who join the cooperative, and is managed by delegates elected by each of the member communities.

The aim of this research was to understand the action taken in 2005, consciously motivated or not, of the producers and their organizations to engage in a contract with the manufacturer. This contract set down the rights and responsibilities of every party involved. Our hypothesis is that the sustainability of the contract depends on both the technical and organizational capacity of cooperative members to meet the manufacturer’s needs, and on the capacity of members to negotiate changes in the terms of the contract.

We met with numerous actors in the agriculture world with links to the cacao sector (see Box 1). We analysed their perceptions and practices to understand how they have oriented, and currently orient, their manner of proceeding and organizing (Roussiau & Bonardi, 2001). First, we rapidly retrace the history of cacao and its socio-economic organization in São Tomé. We then demonstrate how the development of a contract between the manufacturer and the cooperative reflected technical and organizational requirements. Lastly, we raise the question of whether these contractual learning processes can bring greater autonomy to producers.

Box 1: actors interviewed

We interviewed various actors involved in production and management of cacao, including the chocolate manufacturer and others involved in research and development programs. They were interviewed at their place of work. These interviews, individual and collective, were conducted in a semi-comprehensive mode (Kaufmann, 2007). For the farmers, the interviews focused on their personal and collective history, their actual operations and their future expectations. Twenty-five surveys were conducted:

• 4 groups of farmers, of which 2 from communities of the Cooperativa de Exportação do Cacau Biológico (CECAB);

• 10 individual farmers, of which 5 producers from CECAB communities (3 farmers and 2 delegates);

• the CECAB management team (4);

• the technical and commercial coordinator of CECAB;

• the director of the Programa de Apoio Participativo à Agricultura Familiar e Pesca Artesanal (Papafpa);

• 1 technician from Papafpa;

• a non-governmental community support organization;

• 3 research scientists: 1 French and 2 Sao tomenses from the Centro de Investigação Agronómica e Tecnológica (CIAT);

• a group of 3 researchers from Ciat;

• a group of Ciat (3) and Papafpa (2) managers;

• the chocolate manufacturer.

2.0 FROM FARM WORKER TO INDIVIDUAL FARMER: A LONG PATH

When slavery was abolished in 1876, São Tomé slaves became plantation farm workers. They nevertheless remained under the social and economic domination of the plantation owners (Temudo, 2008). The social system of the massive plantations was based on outlying settlements, known as roças, where “communities” of workers and their families were grouped. These communities were completely in the hands of plantation owners; each family received a very low salary and market gardening was forbidden up until 1966 (Valbert, 1990).

In the beginning of the 20th century, cacao was cultivated extensively by Portuguese colonialists at the expense of coffee and food crops. Between 1910 and 1920, São Tomé was the world’s largest exporter of cacao, with annual production exceeding 30 000 tons. Production then fell rapidly to 10 000 tons following a drop in prices induced by overproduction worldwide. Cacao from the “Chocolate Island” was considered to have fine organoleptic qualities. Since independence, production has stagnated between 2000 and 4000 tons (Dulcire & Roche, 2007).

When São Tomé became independent, 29 large colonial plantations occupied most of the arable land on the island (93%, PNUD 2002), primarily producing cacao (id.). The plantations were nationalized and converted into 15 state farms. The plantation workers, who then became government employees, remained salaried farm workers. Cacao continued to be the dominant crop. Beginning in 1990, a change in government initiated a progressive redistribution of land: small areas were distributed to community members while medium and large surface areas were distributed to firms. Individual allocations of land were made community by community. Former farm works benefited as well as other citizens (Gründ, 2006), with all of these beneficiaries thus becoming farmers.

The lots allocated varied greatly, creating differentiation in terms of farm characteristics. The allocation of former colonial community housing was carried out in the same manner as the land. It is estimated that 45% of the beneficiaries do not live in the same community in which they own a field. These land allocations did not constitute real land reform. They were not accompanied by the construction of basic infrastructure to improve rural living conditions, a failure which Temudo (2008) qualifies as an act of government irresponsibility. This social service failure accentuated the withdrawn attitude of these former farm workers turned individual farmers.

Despite this individual allocation of fields, the cacao trade remains in the hands of five exporters. They own the post-harvest processing infrastructure and purchase fresh cacao from small farmers, thereby impeding the latter from learning more about the sector. The purchase price is low, and does not take quality into account. The cacao mainly is used to produce butter. Curiously, however, the first “International Cacao Agreement” (UN, 1972) classed São Tomé within a small group of “producing countries exporting fine or flavour cacao”: the island still remains part of this group, although numerous countries since have been excluded (UN, 2010).

The production techniques used

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