SI-Customer-Led Business Incubator for Farmers and Chocolate Crafters in Indonesia

ID2024TEA553A103 01/09/2024 - 31/08/2029 Facing the huge challenge of only 10% of exported cocoa meeting high-quality standards in Indonesia, our project involves experts from academia, researchers, supported by NGOs and farmer-crafter associations. The project proposes an inclusive incubation program to enhance the technical and entrepreneurial competence of farmers and crafters leading to elevated livelihoods of small-scale cocoa farmers and increased demand of high-quality beans in the local craft chocolate sector addressing SDG 1, SDG 9 and SDG 10. It integrates customer-driven innovation, delivering benefits to at least 100 farmers and 20 crafters and simultaneously reinforcing research and education. A supra-national learning network will be established with partners from Ecuador and Philippines enabling knowledge sharing (incl. from past VLIR-UOS SI projects) and initiating cross-national research collaborations, paving the way for more sustainable cocoa value chains by capacity building in multiple countries.