Atsource Infinity
Cocoa Agroforestry Restoration in the Amazon – Pará, Brazil
ofi’s Cocoa business is working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Mondelēz International, Partnerships for Forests and Instituto Humanize on an AtSource Infinity project in Pará, the Brazilian state with the highest rate of deforestation. 1.2 million hectares have been lost in the last five years alone, mainly as forest is cleared to make way for cattle farming. Together, we are tackling this by promoting cocoa agroforestry – where cocoa is grown alongside native trees and fruits – as a more profitable alternative, delivering a triple positive impact by protecting and restoring the local landscape, improving agricultural practices, and boosting economic opportunities for local farmers.
Transformation Goals
The project aims to bring 14,000 hectares of land under sustainable management by 2023. This will be achieved through:
Delivering cost-efficient technical assistance via a restoration hub to support farmers to understand and meet their Forest Code obligations
Helping farmers to comply with environmental legislation by restoring 500 hectares of riverine forests and the development of 250 Property Restoration Plans
Unlocking rural finance through the Credit Access hub for implementation and management of agroforestry
We are also supporting farmers with productivity through on-farm assistance and monitoring and off-site demonstration training that encourage cocoa agroforestry practices to protect and restore natural forest cover.
The first phase of the project, which recently won Nature-Based Project of the Year at the Business Green Leaders Awards 2021, saw more than 250 farmers sign a zero-deforestation agreement, 16,000 hectares of land be brought under sustainable management, and 1.6 million Brazilian reais of subsidized credit be unlocked for implementation and management of agroforestry.
Pathway to scale
In March 2020, TNC along with the Governor of the State of Pará, Helder Barbalho, and a representative from the Bank of Amazon (BASA) announced they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a joint strategy to promote the green economy in the State with cocoa agroforestry systems as one of their strategies.
The project will help farmers to restore degraded pasture lands into cocoa agroforestry and forest area.
The hypothesis is that increasing areas of cocoa farm will limit farmers ability to work on the pasturelands. Consequently, farmers will release the pasturelands, which will lead to passive restoration.
In the next few years, farmers can increase cocoa agroforestry up to 10 ha per family farming system without hiring labour, and significantly higher by hiring farm labour.
Tracking Transformation
for your specific goals
PROSPEROUS FARMERS
2020
250 farmers
2023 Target
700 farmers
Number of farmers with access to the technical assistance and training support
PROSPEROUS FARMERS
2020
57
2023 Target
145
Number of proposals submitted to the bank
THRIVING COMMUNITIES
2020
18%
2023 Target
30%
% of women trained in GAP/ Financial management/Other income generating activities.
REGENERATION OF THE LIVING WORLD
2020
430 ha
2023 Target
1076 ha
Cumulative area of degraded land transformed to cocoa agroforestry system.
REGENERATION OF THE LIVING WORLD
2020
575 ha
2021 Target
975 ha
Cumulative area under protection and under restoration
What they are saying
Ofi and Mondelēz International have joined efforts to propose a new phase of the project “We are looking forward to taking this approach to scale to drive lasting change in multiple landscapes”
Jens Hamer
We are delighted to be working hand in hand with Olam as part of a public-private approach to encourage the granting of concession in use agroforestry land titles and thus improve the livelihoods of coffee producers in San Martin.
Marco Llanos Director of Promotion and Competivity, SERFOR
Lanthe Nieuwenhuis Project Advisor, RVO
ATSOURCE
TERMS AND PRIVACY
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