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→Issouf - a peasant cocoa farmer in the Sambirano valley
Some of the worlds finest cocoa grows in the Sambirano region in the north of Madagascar. Between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of dry, good quality cocoa are produced yearly in this area. Almost 80% of the harvest come from independent farmers. ROBERT works closely together with about 120 peasant farmers, which supply the company with first quality cocoa. One of them is Issouf.
Issouf lives with his family in New Ananambao, a small village in the Sambirano valley, about 47km from north/south of Ambanja. As a boy he learned everything about cocoa from his father, who had a plantation behind the village just next to the Ambahatra river. A big flood in 2004 and 2005 destroyed about 600ha of cocoa farm land, including his father's plantation. Heavy rain caused erosion and washed sand from the mountains into the valley. The good, fertile soil was covered by sand and is since then unusable for farming.
In 2009 Issouf created a new plantation further away from the village. Beside already existing older cocoa trees he planted new trees in the shade of fruit trees next to coffee shrubs, banana trees and vanilla. On his plantation grow all three types of cocoa: criollo, forastero and trinitario.
Issouf is president of the ADAPS cooperation in the Ananambao region. The Association pour le Dévelopment de l'Agriculture et du Paysannat du Sambirano (Association for the Development of Agriculture and the Peasantry of the Sambirano) buys dry beans from independent farmers for a fixed, fair price. As all members of ADAPS, Issouf has to farm and process the cocoa after strict regulations to ensure a good quality cocoa.
Cocoa grows all year round. In the Sambirano region are two peak seasons for harvesting - in June, July and October, November. Depending on the season, Issouf goes daily or twice a week together with his kids and wife to the plantation to harvest ripe cocoa pods. Most fruits grow directly on the stem, others on branches. For harvesting Issouf uses a special harvest machete with a round peak, similar to a hook. He has to be very careful when harvesting the pods. The ripe fruits need to be cut off minimum 5mm from the stem to not damage the floral button, from which a new flower will grow. Thereafter he and his family open the pods and separate the wet beans from the shell. The wet beans are brought to a fermenting and drying station.
There are no fertilizers used on the Issouf's plantation. All the cocoa growing there is 100% organic.
Behind his house Issouf has a small tree nursery, where he cherishes not only new cocoa trees but also fast growing trees. Those fast growing trees he plants together with other villagers on the mountain slopes to prevent future erosion which could destroy the plantations again. For Issouf, as for many other self-sufficient farmers, cocoa is an important cash crop which is needed indispensable to improve their the living conditions.
