Every year, as the cashew harvest ripens across the Gontougo region of north-eastern Côte d'Ivoire, tonnes of nuts quietly cross the neighboring border, beyond the reach of local cooperatives, their contracts unfulfilled and their social commitments strained. COPABO COOP CA and SCOPAKOCOOP CA knew the problem intimately. What they needed was the power to change it.
The Challenge
The Gontougo region is one of Côte d'Ivoire's most important cashew-producing areas, yet even certified, well-managed cooperatives were losing the season before it officially began. COPABO and SCOPAKO, both holding Fairtrade and Organic certifications and committed to sustainable agricultural practices, faced a structural problem that no amount of good farming could solve.
The cashew harvest starts a full month before the official opening of the season, during which time national authorities have not yet set a minimum price. Without a price floor, farmers face pressure to sell quickly to informal traders who transport the nuts across the border to Ghana, where the market is more structured and immediately more attractive. The result is a massive outflow of cashew nuts that strips cooperatives of the volumes they need to honour their commercial contracts, erodes farmer incomes, and undermines the social programmes the cooperatives exist to deliver. Illicit trafficking networks, poor infrastructure, and a regulatory framework that failed to reflect local realities in Gontougo made the situation worse still.
The Intervention
Recognising that the root of the problem was policy, not practice,COPABO and SCOPAKO turned to Agriterra - not simply to manage the crisis, but to tackle it at its source. The goal was to engage the Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA), Côte d'Ivoire's national regulatory body for the sector, and push for rule changes that would protect cooperatives and their farmers during the vulnerable pre-season window.
Beginning in mid-2024, Agriterra worked closely alongside COPABO and SCOPAKO to strengthen their capacity to engage with national authorities and advocate for regulatory change. Through a structured support process, the cooperatives developed a clear, evidence-based case addressed to the Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA), produced in collaboration with the RICE network, of which COPABO is a member.
The initiative gained momentum quickly. By the end of 2024, four additional cashew cooperatives had joined the effort, forming a unified coalition with a shared agenda. This collective voice opened doors that had previously been closed, bringing cooperative representatives to the table with all five colleges of the cashew value chain.
In early 2025, the coalition presented its case to the incoming CCA management. The engagement produced a concrete result: a signed contract for 500 tonnes of cashew nuts, supported by a prefinancing of 120 million CFA francs. Agriterra remained involved throughout to support a transparent and accountable process on all sides.
The Results
An independent evaluation conducted by Agriterra found that four of the seven actions outlined in the Smart Proposal had been fully implemented, with the remaining three actively in progress. The numbers tell part of the story - 500 tonnes secured, 120 million CFA francs unlocked, six farmers organisations united in a single advocacy coalition - but the change runs deeper than that.
At the producer level, farmers benefit from more stable and predictable buying conditions, reducing the pressure to sell informally before the season opens. At the cooperative level, COPABO and SCOPAKO have strengthened their collection and sales capacity, improved product packaging, and rebuilt their credibility as reliable commercial partners. At the sector level, the reduction in cross-border nut leakage keeps value within the Ivorian cashew supply chain and reinforces the position of certified cooperatives in national and international markets.
Perhaps most significantly, this process has changed how the cooperatives see themselves. Having led the advocacy effort and achieved results, COPABO and SCOPAKO are now committed to continuing to engage on unresolved issues - including packaging standards, commission structures, and refraction kilograms - with the confidence that comes from knowing their collective voice can change the rules.
Looking Ahead
The impact of this work extends beyond any single contract or subsidy. By building internal advocacy capacity through the FACT methodology, Agriterrahas helped COPABO and SCOPAKO transform from organisations that respond to market conditions into organisations that actively shape them. The coalition they helped build is already larger than when it started, and its agenda is not finished.
As one of the cooperative directors reflected: "When we take the lead in lobbying and advocacy, this leads to greater success. KOUAME KOUMANPATRICE, Chairman of COPABO
We are committed to continuing - because we now know our voice can change the rules." MOUROUFIE ASSANEOUATTARA, Directeur de SCOPAKO
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