More money to farmers

The founders of Kokoa Kamili have spent most of our professional careers in international development. Over the course of our work we became frustrated with the top-down approach of many organisations. We decided that the most direct form of benefit for the communities we work with would be to pay high prices for their produce. Farmers are then able to decide for themselves on the best use of this extra income, whether it be upgrading their roofs, sending their children to a better school, saving for a rainy day, or simply enjoying a little more spending money. Since we began operations we have paid the highest prices for cocoa in Tanzania.

SEEDLINGS

Since 2015 we have grown and distributed over 350,000 cocoa seedlings to farmers. Roughly one third of these seedlings were given away as a sign of appreciation to our farmers, and as donations to local schools and orphanages. The remaining balance were sold below cost, for the rough equivalent of $0.05 a seedling. We charged for these seedlings based on the recommendation of village leaders who said that by doing so, we would ensure that farmers would only take as many seedlings as they had sufficient time and resources to tend. 

We continue to improve our nursery operations both with more scientific tree selection for propagation and by adapting our planting protocols to ensure the best quality seedlings are grown.

FARMER TRAINING

In 2015 we were excited to welcome Elisante Mntambwe to our staff.  Elisante is a 'Bwana Shamba' - an agricultural extension field officer with specific training on cocoa agronomy. Since Elisante came on board he's been busy working directly with our farmers on their plots, troubleshooting issues that they face, and providing training on Good Agronomy Practices to help increase both the yields and the quality of cocoa they grow. We’ve since promoted our employees Julius Katambi and Kabula Marcos to field officers as well!