This Earth Day, we celebrate the Fairtrade smallholder farmers and workers who serve as the primary stewards of their natural environment. 

Globally, nearly one quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions come from food production, and when farmers are unable to earn fair prices for the crops they grow, the likelihood of climate degradation increases even more. However, when farmers are paid fair wages, they can invest in sustainable production and food production actually becomes an opportunity to restore the environment and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Fairtrade believes that economic inequity is the root cause of environmental issues in agriculture, so solutions must address both sides of this equation.  

In Ghana, Fairtrade cocoa farmers are demonstrating how earning fairer prices and investing in sustainable solutions can both increase cocoa production and leave the environment better than how they found it.  

The Ghana Agroforestry for Impact (GAIM) project (funded by the French Development Agency implemented in partnership with Max Havelaar France and Fairtrade Africa) aims to improve smallholder cocoa farmer livelihoods by implementing sustainable agricultural practices that restore and conserve land through dynamic agroforestry (DAF), increase climate resilience and income diversification, and strengthen the inclusion of women and youth, building a sustainable cocoa production system.  

Through this project, smallholder cocoa farmers from three Ghanaian cocoa cooperatives have received training on dynamic agroforestry practices through a “training of trainers” model that trained 400 farmers, benefiting nearly 100,000 smallholder farmers across three large cocoa cooperatives. This training included the distribution and planting of seedlings.  To date, more than 490,000+ cocoa seedlings, plantain suckers, fruit trees, and timber trees, have been distributed, transitioning more than 102 hectares of land to dynamic agroforestry.  

By intercropping cocoa seedlings with fruit and timber trees, cocoa farmers will be able to improve soil quality and increase cocoa production with the addition of shade trees that serve a dual purpose , bridging the gap between environmental sustainability and financial well-being. Smallholder farmers improved climate resilience on their farm, while simultaneously receiving direct support to sell fruit and non-timber products in local and regional markets, creating a new source of income. This diversified income source was supported by the establishment of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) that function as informal banking systems within the local community, providing smallholder farmers a way to both save income and also access small-scale loans they can then invest in income-generating activities and support income diversification. Access to these resources can be a game-changer for smallholder farmers who operate on thin margins and often lack the extra funds to invest in their future business growth. To date, 50% of smallholder farmers reached by the program have added at least one new income source, linked to the adoption of new dynamic agroforestry practices. In addition, 80% of farmers improved food productivity, leading to a reduction in food expenditure and 50% of farmers also noted an improvement in their living conditions as a result.