From cocoa to BioTrade
Our agricultural research spans cocoa in West Africa, bananas in Latin America and the BioTrade sector across Africa. It covers child labour and hired workers, certification and company due diligence, agroecology, and the trade that links farms to European and US markets.
It began in cocoa. The Harkin-Engel Protocol of 2001 was industry’s promise to end the worst forms of child labour in the sector, and from 2008 to 2011 our associates measured, through annual population-based surveys in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, how far that promise was kept. The questions have since moved from prevalence to systems: whether certification, cooperatives, company due diligence and the new EU rules change conditions at the farm gate, and how ecological value, rural livelihoods and market access can grow together.
Three lines of work
Who works on the farm, and under what conditions?
Child labour prevalence and root causes in cocoa; hired workers in certified small producer organisations, from how many there are to what they experience.
Do certification and due diligence reach the farm?
Rainforest Alliance’s place in the due diligence ecosystem, Fairtrade’s HREDD guidance and tools, and standard operating procedures for cocoa farmer groups.
Can production be sustainable and profitable at once?
Fairtrade’s agroecology policy, the evaluation of the ABS Initiative on BioTrade market pathways, and the crop intelligence atlas for 21 African BioTrade crops.
The record
BioTrade Africa crop intelligence atlas
21 high-value African crops read through market, jobs, carbon and biodiversity lenses. Tool
Evaluation of the ABS Initiative on BioTrade market pathways
OECD-DAC evaluation for GIZ across Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Kenya. Evaluation
US imports associated with child labour
Interactive dashboard of child labour risk in US imports, 2019–2023, by product and origin. Tool
Estimating the number of workers in small producer organisations
Econometric estimation of hired labour in Fairtrade cocoa cooperatives, Côte d’Ivoire. Study
HREDD guide and risk assessment tool for hired labour organisations
Co-authored with Fairtrade’s Centre of Excellence on HREDD, with an Excel risk assessment tool. Guidance and tool
Rainforest Alliance’s future in the HREDD ecosystem
Mapping of the due diligence service ecosystem around partner companies, with a gap analysis. Study
Addressing root causes: private sector impacts on child labour outcomes
Systems modelling for UNICEF, with three value chain case studies and 74 practices companies can use. Study
Farmer group HREDD and grievance mechanism SOPs
Two standard operating procedures for cocoa farmer groups in Ghana, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire, for Barry Callebaut. Guidance
Agroecology and Fairtrade: policy position for sustainable agriculture
Built on 25 key informants, 230 producer organisations and 13 external peer reviewers; adopted as Fairtrade’s official position. Policy position
50 billion euros: Europe’s child labour footprint in 2019
Economic modelling for the Greens/EFA group, with the EU import explorer and the trade conditionality guide. Study and tools
Contextual analysis of workers in Fairtrade small-scale producer organisations
Ten producer organisations in five countries; 300 worker interviews. Cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, bananas in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Peru. Study
(De)stabilising factors affecting cocoa cooperatives in western Côte d’Ivoire
Sociological analysis of 31 cooperatives: what makes a cooperative hold together or fall apart. Study
Oversight of initiatives against the worst forms of child labour in cocoa
Annual population-based surveys in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, evaluating compliance with the Harkin-Engel Protocol; four reports to the US Congress. DI associates
Where the research took place
Research partners in the region include ENSEA Abidjan and ISSER at the University of Ghana; our research associates are based in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.
Working in agricultural supply chains?
Whether you certify the farm, buy the crop, or fund the programme, we can tell you what the evidence shows and design the study that answers your question.