Archives des Producer organizations

Back from mission: in Ivory Coast, our partners face declining cocoa production

Have you noticed the soaring price of your favorite chocolate lately? Rising prices present a number of challenges for our partners involved in the cocoa sector in Ivory Coast, a country which alone accounts for almost 40% of the world’s cocoa production. Junior Tombe, investment officer, has just returned from a mission to shed some light on the situation.

Since September 2023, I have been in charge of monitoring SIDI’s partners in several West African countries. This is how I discovered Côte d’Ivoire, one of SIDI‘s intervention countries. The changes taking place in the country’s agricultural sector make each mission exciting.

This time, my mission concerned the cocoa sector. We mainly work with certified cooperatives that buy dried and fermented beans directly from producers and then resell them to exporters, often subsidiaries of major chocolate multinationals.

Today, Ivory Coast accounts for between 35 and 40% of the world’s cocoa production (over 50% with Ghana). Any change in production therefore has a direct impact on the world market.

Cocoa futures trading vs soaring world prices

An interesting feature of the Ivory Coast cocoa market is that it is highly regulated. The State, through the Conseil Café Cacao (CCC), sets the price of cocoa at the start of each season: from October ^1st to March 31 of the following year for the long harvest, and from April ^1st to September 30 for the small harvest. A price scale defines the selling price at all levels of the marketing chain, from planter to exporter. The “bord champ” price is the one paid to growers by the cooperatives. In principle, no one is allowed to buy below or above this price, under penalty of sanctions.

This policy of price stabilization, adopted after the excesses of liberalization, guarantees a minimum price to producers and secures future sales via forward contracts, at prices negotiated six-twelve months before the campaign. However, the last season (2023/24) and the main part of the 2024/25 season were marked by a drop in production: down 25 to 30% in 2023-2024 and lower deliveries for the current season. Caused by climatic disruption – “droughts” alternate with excessive rainfall – the drop in production, coupled with stock market speculation, contributed to the historic surge in international cocoa prices (a tonne of cocoa rose from $4k to $12k between the end of 2023 and April 2024).

Given that the majority of Ivorian cocoa production is sold in advance at pre-negotiated prices, soaring prices have widened the gap between the farm-gate price paid to producers and the market price, ultimately putting a strain on the price stabilization policy. This poses new challenges for cooperatives.

Mature partners capable of anticipating production trends

During my mission, I was impressed by the maturity of our partner cooperatives in the face of these challenges. They have succeeded in delivering 80% of their contracts to buyers in the 2024/25 long harvest.

This demonstrates their level of local knowledge and the effectiveness of their producer loyalty strategies. Against a backdrop of falling cocoa production, which can intensify competition, the benefits our partners provide to their members are decisive in securing the stock: supply of inputs, school loans, training, donations of tools, and so on.

In addition to focusing on non-commercial services, our partners have anticipated the increase in their financing needs. This is how they obtained larger amounts of pre-financing from buyers, in addition to increasing the amounts of their loans negotiated with SIDI (+1.1 M€ of loans in 2024 compared to 2023).

Unlike buyer advances, which are repaid on delivery, and bank loans, which are often amortized monthly, SIDI loans offer flexible working capital, as they are repaid on the last deliveries.

The example of ECAM, an emblematic SIDI partner since 2017

Based in Méagui in southeastern Côte d’Ivoire, ECAM has over 3,000 members and a production capacity of around 7,000 t of cocoa.

During my visit to ECAM members’ plantations, I became aware of the cooperative’s resilience, as some plots have been affected by swollen shoot disease for several years. This disease, which is incurable to this day, destroys the branches and leaves of cocoa trees, leading to a drop in production for producers and, consequently, a fall in income. To counter this scourge, ECAM is promoting crop diversification by distributing vegetable seeds to supplement cocoa in infected areas. This is in addition to the activities of ECAM’s sustainability program: promotion of organic inputs to support productivity, distribution of shade trees, etc.

SCEB, a 100% organic cooperative that could become a new partner

This mission enabled me to meet a potential new partner for SIDI: SCEB, a 100% organic cooperative, quite different from what we see in Côte d’Ivoire.

For SIDI, it’s important to support a partner that chooses organic agriculture in a context where less than 10% of the members of partner cooperatives are organic, and where the European Union, the main buyer of Ivorian cocoa, is strengthening its legal measures to combat deforestation.

The cooperative’s positioning in this niche market, in a country where cocoa is almost exclusively grown conventionally, sets an example for other cooperatives.

All in all, it has been truly enriching for SIDI to support these partners in the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire, who have shown a great capacity to adapt. I’m convinced that the Côte d’Ivoire experience can be a rich source of lessons for other countries and other sectors.

Interview by Anne-Isabelle Barthélémy

Image credits SIDI: cocoa plants, shade tree nursery, on the road, a cocoa tree affected by swollen shoot.

Vanilla of Madagascar, a journey at the end of the world with a new partner

Before it enhances our ice creams, cannelés and custards sublime, did you know that vanilla had to travel a road full of pitfalls? For SIDI, Gabrielle Orliange travelled the vanilla trail to meet the cooperatives, from Madagascar’s capital, Tananarive, to the jungle around Mananara. We invite you to follow her, particularly on the day she reaches a particularly isolated area, and discover a new facet of the job of partnership manager at SIDI.

I live in Madagascar where I work part-time as a partnership officer for SIDI. Having identified a possible new partner in the agricultural sector, I needed to meet them in the field. MVE (Madagascar Vanilla Export) is a family-run SME that processes vanilla for export. It buys vanilla from two cooperatives of male and female producers, and also helps them to structure themselves.

After four months of e-mail exchanges, I organized a seven-day mission to meet them and present a detailed report to SIDI’s Financing Committee with a view to obtaining a loan.

MVE is based in Tamatave, about 400 kilometers from Tananarive, the capital of Madagascar where I live. Covering this distance took me a full day in a bush cab. Then I continued by 4X4 for two more days on bumpy roads, meeting producers in coastal areas.

Meeting in the highlands

On this fourth day, I have to reach a village near Mananara, located on the “high plateaus^“1, in a very dense forest. It’s here, in this particularly remote area, that the best quality vanilla grows.

The track is too narrow for a 4X4, and we start with a two-hour ride through the mud. By the time I reach the village, some fifteen growers from the Label Vavasaha cooperative, which numbers around 500, are gathered in the village hall. I can tell they’re eager to show me their plantations. To do so, we have to go deeper into the jungle. We start by taking a pirogue, before finally clearing a path with a machete.

Once we arrived, they were very proud to show me their plots, where Madagascar’s finest vanilla is grown!

I can see big green beans hanging from the vines wrapped around the trees. Vanilla is a very demanding crop, requiring constant care. Native to Mexico, it has to be cut and the flowers fertilized by hand to produce vanilla.

At the end of the world

I’m struck by the isolation of these producers. It’s like being at the end of the world. Madagascar is already a lonely island. The vastness of its territory and the area’s lack of accessibility add to this feeling.

In a way, this isolation, which protects them from theft, suits the growers. But arriving after four days of acrobatic transport, I understand the logistical cost of growing vanilla. I have even more respect for MVE, forced to deal with this reality and its share of unforeseen events: broken-down cars, fuel supply problems. It’s not easy to get vanilla from so far away.

The second thing that stands out for me is how the value of vanilla has helped generate wealth. Even though these areas are very isolated, I see motorcycles everywhere, satellite dishes and 4X4s. Goods that are very rare on the agricultural plateaus near Tananarive, a less landlocked but poorer region that mainly produces rice.

Here, everyone grows vanilla, from a few beans to several kilos. This windfall benefits everyone, even if some benefit more than others.

For male and female growers, the difference lies in the way they sell their produce. Those who work alone find it harder to sell their produce at a good price. But those who manage to form cooperatives are able to negotiate and sell their produce at a better price. MVE is keen to buy vanilla from cooperative producers at a higher price than the market price.

Tour of the processing site

On the way home, I stop off at the final processing site in Tamatave. The MVE warehouse is located in a discreet, safe and secure area, with guards.

Here, vanilla is sun-dried for several weeks. The beans are then sorted before being cured in caissons to develop their aroma. After several months, they are checked and graded by quality before being packed for export.

In the final stage, the vanilla is sent to Tananarive before being shipped to Europe. The fragile beans travel by air. The more resistant powder can be shipped by boat. It takes no less than 90 days on average to reach France from Tananarive.

An extraordinary mission

This mission was a real discovery for me, even though I live in Madagascar. I’ve never been so far into the country. The other partners we work with on the island in the microfinance sector are much more accessible. This allows us to strike a balance. Although the partnership with MVE is financially more risky for SIDI, it fulfils our vocation of supporting the agricultural sector and strengthening this type of business.

As it is a structure that has never benefited from investments, SIDI’s loan represents real added value for it. This is what we call a “impact partner”, and I was able to measure its social and environmental commitment on the spot.

The loan was disbursed in the summer of 2024. Thanks to it, the vanilla could be purchased from the producers. As it does every year at this time, MVE is awaiting approval to export to European buyers. The sale of vanilla will allow MVE to repay the Sidi loan. If they manage to repay and meet the deadline, the loan can be renewed in 2025, enabling them to buy vanilla this summer.

To find out more about vanilla cultivation and discover Gabrielle’s first days on mission, download her full mission report here.

Interview by Anne-Isabelle Barthélémy

1. These are high plateaus, but they have nothing to do with the Malagasy high plateau region, which rises to 1,500 m.

SIDI trip to Tunisia, local solutions to global challenges

At the beginning of November, a group of SIDI savers and solidarity shareholders travelled to Tunisia to discover how their investments come to life in the field. The trip enabled them to meet SIDI’s local partners and discover the projects supported, thus embodying the chain of financial solidarity that unites savers here and micro-entrepreneurs or small producers there.

Tunisia is facing multiple crises: democratic transition at a standstill, deteriorating public services, galloping inflation, very high unemployment, particularly among young people, large-scale emigration to Europe and Canada, illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa, etc. These political, economic and social challenges are compounded by environmental issues, in particular the water crisis exacerbated by recurrent droughts. Added to these political, economic and social challenges is the environmental issue, and in particular the water crisis exacerbated by recurrent droughts. In this context, SIDI’s partners, whether in sustainable agricultural sectors such as Beni Ghreb and South Organic, or in the microfinance sector such as Enda Tamweel, play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable communities in their economic development and improving their living conditions.

Enda Tamweel: microfinance for emancipation

Enda Tamweel has become the country’s leading Microfinance Institution (MFI): 472,000 customers for a country of 11 million inhabitants. SIDI has been a partner since its creation in 2015, when it acquired a stake in the MFI. Enda Tamweel offers small loans designed to support micro-entrepreneurs and small farmers in their economic activities. It primarily targets the informal sector (59% of its customers live below the poverty line), women and young people, and the rural sector with strategic support for agriculture. Today, the MFI is the leading financier of small-scale agriculture in Tunisia.

During our visits, we were able to talk to beneficiaries whose inspiring stories illustrate the impact of this organization. In a working-class district of Tunis, we met Amina, a shopkeeper and Enda customer for many years. Amina is on her ^12th loan cycle with Enda, which has enabled her to expand her business, build up sufficient stock, send her children to school and secure her future. In another district, a sewing workshop supported by Enda for over 20 years now employs seven women, demonstrating that microfinance can be a lever for long-term sustainable development. In Kairouan, in the center of the country, another beneficiary impressed us with his small dairy cow farm. This project, which began with the purchase of a single cow thanks to a microcredit, has gradually grown to include seven cows and a fully-equipped barn. With the ongoing support of his specialist advisor, he now meets the strict standards of the local dairy, which collects his milk.

From the farmer who started out with one cow to the craftswoman who makes evening dresses and now employs seven seamstresses, these initiatives bear witness to the lasting impact of microfinance. This support goes far beyond the financial. Enda offers all its customers free training and local support, guaranteeing a strong relationship of trust between loan officer and beneficiary, as well as the sustainability of projects and genuine social inclusion. These initiatives transform not only individual lives, but entire communities.

South Organic and Beni Ghreb: innovation in the face of the water crisis

In southern Tunisia, water management is a daily challenge for farmers, especially date growers. We headed for the Hazoua oasis, on the Algerian border, where a family of producers has set up and runs a small business marketing and exporting Beni Ghreb dates. The company is backed by the Groupement pour le Développement de l’Agriculture en Biodynamie, which groups together around a hundred producers from the oasis. The dates produced are of the excellent Deglet Nour variety. Attending the date harvest on one of the producers’ plots is a magical moment. We were able to see the sprinkler irrigation system in place, which saves 70% of water consumption, and allows other crops to grow between the date palms, notably fruit bushes. We then visited the packaging unit, which employs around a hundred young women from the village. Beni Ghreb is struggling to maintain its autonomy in a very fragile economic context. The emotion was palpable when the founder recalled that, thanks to the financial support of SIDI, and therefore of its shareholders, the community had overcome major crises such as drought, insect infestations, and above all the Covid crisis which had halted exports. “This project is life for Hazoua,” he insisted.

South Organic, another of SIDI’s partner date-packing and export SMEs, located in Kebili, some 100 km to the east, is also tackling the water issue with innovative solutions. South Organic works with 200 certified organic producers and employs just over 500 people, most of them women. Accompanied by the director and quality control manager, we visited their Al Wahaat pilot orchard, where the hydraulic engineer in charge of the project explained the irrigation system in place. This system drastically reduces water wastage by targeting the exact needs of crops, storing water, and alternating irrigation techniques according to the time of year. With this optimal water management, the crop stages under the date palms (legumes, arboriculture etc.) are re-established and can provide growers with additional income while promoting local biodiversity. The pilot orchard is open to all farmers in the region; they are invited to visit the plot and adopt these new techniques, thus amplifying its impact on a local scale.

A universal message

Each stage of this journey illustrated the strength of concrete and effective international solidarity. The projects encountered, whether in microfinance or sustainable agriculture, embodied the values that SIDI stands for: perseverance, solidarity and respect for people. For the participants, the trip not only enabled them to see the impact of their investments, but also to nurture their commitment to fairer, more sustainable development.

DSCN0252 un peu de permaculture arrosage par immersion

Gain a better understanding of how Abakundakawa, a Rwandan coffee cooperative, is helping to change the lives of its members.

Productrice de café de la coopérative abakundakawa

The Farmer Thriving Index, a new initiative designed to better assess changes in the lives of small-scale farmers.

The Farmer Thriving Index (FTI) was created by 60Decibels, a company specializing in social impact measurement. The FTI is an assessment designed to better understand the changes brought about by cooperatives for their members, as perceived by small-scale agricultural producers themselves. It takes into account several dimensions of economic, social and environmental well-being, providing an overall assessment of their quality of life and the sustainability of their activities.

In East Africa, the FTI has focused specifically on small-scale coffee growers. A control group of 1,026 small-scale producers not affiliated to any cooperative or agricultural enterprise was interviewed. Their situations and responses are then compared with those of cooperative coffee growers.

SIDI contributed to this study by co-financing, with our partner Aceli Africa and the ACTES foundation, an assessment of the situation of small-scale coffee producers who are members of Abakundakawa, a cooperative located in the north of Rwanda in the poor regions of Rushashi and Minazi. In all, 282 Abakundakawa suppliers were interviewed to better understand their situation and the effects of cooperative membership on their lives.

Abakundakawa, a Rwandan cooperative supported for over ten years by SIDI

Abakundakawa is a producer organization created in 1999 on the initiative of 367 Rwandan coffee growers, with the aim of enhancing the value of their production. From the outset, the organization has been dedicated to purchasing and processing Arabica coffee cherries into high-quality green coffee for international marketing.

Over the past 25 years, Abakundakawa has gone from strength to strength, and today boasts over 2,100 active members, 44% of whom are women, 23 permanent employees and 175 seasonal workers. It exports around 19 containers of coffee every year. Abakundakawa’s activities have a strong social mission. Indeed, improving the standard of living of its members is at the heart of the cooperative’s activity. To meet this objective, it charges purchase prices higher than the minimum price set by the government. In particular, the organization has been Fair Trade certified since 2005, and has thus been able to increase its impact on local social development through projects to supply water, improve agricultural access, pay for mutual health insurance schemes, and so on.

The study describes producers whose living conditions are particularly fragile

Two-thirds of the producers who responded to the survey are men, owners of their own land, with an average age of 48. The families are large and poorly educated; for 37%, elementary school is the highest level of education in the family. On average, they own 2.7 hectares of land, 44% of which is devoted to growing Arabica for export, the rest to peas, corn and bananas.For half of those interviewed, coffee production is their main source of income. An assessment of their behavior shows that 60% of respondents have incomes below the “Living Income Reference Value”, an estimate of the minimum amount needed to live decently in the region. However, almost all the farmers interviewed want to continue producing coffee, and hope that their children will too.

What Abakundakawa brings to its producers

The cooperative strives to build member loyalty through regular training by agronomists and field agents: 71% are in regular contact with these agents, whom they meet three times a year on average. What’s more, the interviewees’ farming practices are generally more virtuous than those of the control group, with all of them implementing good farming practices and two-thirds practicing agroforestry. Abakundakawa facilitates access to suitable tools (hoe, saw, pruning shears) and cows to promote natural fertilization of plots. It also carries out specific actions in favor of young people and women, and offers a savings service. Thanks to the latter, 53% of respondents say they save every month, compared with only 25% of producers in the control group.

These actions are the main drivers behind the very high level of supplier satisfaction with the cooperative, which scores highly on the Net Promoter Score, an indicator that compares the number of promoters of an organization (i.e. the number of people who would recommend the organization to their friends and family) with the number of detractors (people who would not recommend the organization to their friends and family). Abakundakawa achieves a very high score (NPS of 51), a testament to the strong satisfaction and loyalty of its members.

These testify in particular:

“They teach us how to make coffee, compost, mulch, prune, weed and renovate the field. All these things that the cooperative teaches us are very important for a coffee grower, because they enable him to improve his growing methods in a professional way. I think it’s something unique that our cooperative has that can benefit all coffee growers.”
Woman, aged 61

“I like the way they value their members and offer training so we can improve the quantity and quality of our produce. They also offer premiums and provide cows for breeding so we can get manure easily.”
Woman, 62 years old

As in the majority of satisfaction surveys linked to the provision of services, the only subject of dissatisfaction remains the price paid, in this case for coffee. 62% of respondents were dissatisfied with the prices paid by Abakundakawa. However, 62% also claim to have made a profit on the last harvest, and half of them have noticed an improvement on last year in terms of income received. In fact, Abakundakawa pays a higher price than the market price, and the premiums from organic and fair trade certification also enable the payment of a bonus at the end of the campaign.

Aware of the crucial contribution made by the cooperative, 80% of those questioned plan to continue investing and developing their coffee production. It’s a safe bet that they will continue to supply Abakundakawa with top-quality fair-trade coffee for a long time to come.

Discover SIDI’s 2021 activity report

The 2021 Activity Report is online!

The year 2021 was still very much marked by the effects of the Covid19 pandemic, but let us salute everyone’s commitment, which enabled SIDI to pursue its mission as a solidarity investor serving the financial and economic inclusion of populations excluded from conventional financial systems.

Discover the performances and achievements of SIDI and its partner organizations, all committed to ecological and social transition. Aware of the significant financing and support needs that remain, SIDI is fully mobilized to respond to the ever-increasing challenges facing the most vulnerable populations.

Let’s stick to our course and our ambition to promote socially responsible finance!

Publication of SIDI’s 2021 Social and Environmental Report

SIDI’s Bilan Social et Environnemental 2021 (Social and Environmental Report 2021) presents the key figures of its activity in favour of the development of inclusive economies, mainly in rural areas.

In 2021, SIDI is pursuing its mission as a solidarity investor and demonstrating the added value of its action.

It supports
144 partners in 36 countries: rural or mixed MFIs, agricultural entities mostly certified organic and fair trade.

It continues to target the most vulnerable:

✔️ 73% of partners are located in countries vulnerable to climate change

✔️ 73% of partners are located in countries with a low or medium HDI

✔️ 57% of partners are located in low-banking countries

✔️ 53% of PF dedicated to Sub-Saharan Africa

Empowering partners remains a priority:

📌 51% of PF is devoted to capital investment ;

📌 1/3 of loans are for more than 36 months

It reinforces the customized support provided to partners via three channels:

→ participation in decision-making bodies

→ personalized support

→ technical assistance

Find all the figures and data from the Social and Environmental Report 2021

Focus on technical support for rural African players

Created in 2011 by SIDI and its partners, the Fefisol fund offers a technical assistance (TA) facility to African rural players, in addition to its financial support. After conducting nearly 140 TA projects on the continent, SIDI and Alterfin are due to launch a second fund in 2022, with the ambition of further deepening its social and environmental approach to the companies financed.

Financing and TA, fertile ground for the growth of agricultural entities in Africa

By Gabrielle Orliange, Head of Social and Environmental Performance SIDI/Fefisol (published in Secteur privé & développement #36, La revue de Proparco, 4th quarter 2021)

In Africa, microfinance and the rural sector are of little interest to the traditional banking system. However, technical support (TS) for agricultural entities, combined with appropriate financial services, play an essential role in the continent’s sustainable development. This is why the Fefisol fund (Fonds européen de financement solidaire pour l’AFrique), in addition to its financial support, offers a technical assistance facility to rural players. In this context, it provides its customers with specialized service providers who help them to strengthen their viability and improve their productivity, while preserving the living conditions of small-scale agricultural producers.

Since its creation just ten years ago, Fefisol has financed 139 support projects for 51 customers in 22 African countries. Over two-thirds of beneficiaries are small microfinance institutions (MFIs) undergoing consolidation[1] or agricultural entities. A quarter of the technical support projects supported by the fund relate to financial issues, in particular accounting monitoring and strengthening internal control.

The technical support program reinforces the impact of financial support. At the beneficiary level, the two levers of action are complementary: Fefisol loans enable companies to grow their business, while technical expertise helps them secure this growth by improving their efficiency. In terms of fund management, technical support in return enables investment managers to improve their understanding of how investee companies operate, thus guaranteeing greater operational efficiency.

Fefisol’s TA offer stands out above the rest by providing a tailor-made response to customer needs. The customer is heavily involved in the entire process, including the selection of the service provider. This sense of ownership is also reinforced by the direct financial contribution that each customer must make to the project[2].

INVOLVE THE CUSTOMER IN ALL PHASES OF THE PROCESS

Over the decade, the needs of Fefisol’s customers have changed considerably. For almost two years now, due to the economic crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, requests to the fund have mainly been for equipment coverage not provided for in their annual budgets. For their part, MFIs have asked for support in managing liquidity in a crisis context. Fefisol has responded to this need by organizing, with partners, an online training course on this topic.

The independent evaluation of the facility in 2019 will assess the impact of technical support on beneficiaries. Many TA missions respond to opportunities and needs for fundamental change within beneficiary institutions. In many cases, TA projects have helped to kick-start an in-depth transformation process. By enabling customers to test innovations more quickly and easily, they help speed up the implementation of optimal solutions.

Several lessons can be drawn from these ten years of activity. The main one remains the need for the customer to take ownership of the technical support project. As such, his involvement in the process is crucial, from defining his needs for a customized solution to managing the consultant. It is also important to maintain a certain degree of agility throughout the implementation of TA projects, to ensure an effective response.

MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF PROJECT IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Downstream, the major challenge of this type of scheme remains that of evaluating the impact of TA programs on beneficiaries. Thanks to the possibility of granting successive financing and to its processes for monitoring the performance of its customers, Fefisol nevertheless has powerful tools for characterizing and documenting this impact over time.

To support this ramp-up, a Fefisol 2 fund will be launched in March 2022. Following on from Fefisol 1, it will continue to offer financial and technical services to rural MFIs and agricultural entities, with the ambition of deepening its social and environmental approach to projects. As such, the AT facility will have a compartment dedicated to improving sustainable agricultural practices and financing agriculture, while retaining its “tailor-made” approach so as to meet all its customers’ needs.

[1 ] Tier 3 MFIs, with total assets of less than USD 5 million.

[2 ] This mandatory contribution – at least 15% of each mission – explains the relatively low average value of TA projects.