Multistakeholder networks promoting cocoa farming and silvopastoral livestock in Caquetá, Colombia

By Victoria Guáqueta Solórzano and Roger Ayazo Berrocal, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and Martha Vanegas Cubillos, Alliance Bioversity & CIAT.

The department of Caquetá, in the Colombian Amazon, has become a focal point for various national and international institutions aiming to promote sustainable production systems that contribute to the reduction of deforestation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and peacebuilding. This institutional interest is rooted in the region's history of violence, cultivation of crops for illicit purposes, and a significant advance in the arc of deforestation towards the Amazon region, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world.

The specific contributions of this institutional framework translate into investments in technical assistance and training, organizational capacity building, support for basic and applied research, and the promotion of high potential products for national and international markets. Among the most important products are cocoa (Theobroma cacao) and milk from livestock managed under silvopastoral systems.

In this context, cocoa production through agroforestry and sustainable livestock farming are seen as pathways to conservation. At the local level, public and private institutions have partnered to strengthen networks that support organic production, cocoa exports, and the improvement of the livelihoods for families who are committed to preserving and enhancing their economic conditions. Community and local grassroots organizations have been central in reaching the dual purposes of improving family's quality of life and restoring ecosystems. For cocoa, we identified organizations like ASPROABELEN in the municipality of Belén de los Andaquíes and COMUNCAM in the municipality of Montañita. For livestock, organizations such as ASOAGROEMPT, ASMEGO, COMOGAN and ASOMUFEM stand out.

Through the OneCGIAR initiative on Low Emission Food Systems,we carried out a stakeholder mapping for the cacao and livestock value chains.

Picture by Victoria Guáqueta-Solórzano

We found that cocoa is widely promoted by international cooperation agencies, including WWF, GIZ, WCS, RainForest Alliance, along with government and private entities such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), FEDECACAO, and departmental and local government offices. Although local producer organizations are primary recipients of significant investments, their influence in pre-intervention design and management processes remains limited. Nonetheless, the leverage of such external organizations has been crucial in making cocoa farming a thriving value chain.

Incontrast,sustainable livestock farming lacks a similarly diverse and stable network of international and national development actors. Support mainly comes from national entities, such as the National Learning Service (SENA), the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDEGAN) and the MADR, which promote small projects focused on the conversion of conventional livestock systems to sustainable ones and on improving pasture management and animal genetics. In this scenario, producers make their own investments, in some cases financially supported by institutions, but in other cases individually or within the framework of projects promoted by producer organizations. Despite these efforts, cooperation networks within the livestock value chain do not yet guarantee their sustainability, which is concerning given the potential of this type of production in the forest recovery that conventional cattle ranching has degraded.

Picture by Roger Ayazo-Berrocal

It is clear the grassroots organizations have been essential in supporting the sustainability of these value chains, underscoring that the success of sustainable cocoa and livestock farming depends on their continued strengthening.