From waste to opportunity
How the Etsonenyo cocoa cooperative in Togo is helping women farmers to improve incomes by turning cocoa waste into value-added products.
Soap made by the Etsonenyo cocoa cooperative (Photo: FAO)
In the Kloto prefecture of the Plateaux region of Togo, the Etsonenyo cocoa cooperative specialises in the transformation of cocoa and its byproducts. Created in 1999, this long-standing producer organisation currently has 57 members, almost half of whom are women.
In the past, the cooperative’s income relied mainly on cocoa production and marketing, with limited diversification. Cocoa husks were a byproduct of cocoa production and were largely an unused waste product. And as in most rural Togolese contexts, the women members of Etsonenyo had limited opportunities beyond earning an income from farm labour.
Forest and Farm Facility activities
With Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) support, Etsonenyo has been developing an additional income-generating activity for women members, by supplementing their incomes from cocoa production and marketing through making value-added products from cocoa husks. Through FFF funding, Etsonenyo has been able to establish a semi-industrial soap production unit based on cocoa pods as well as palm oil.
The technology behind this is based on traditional West African soap-making practices and entails the burning of the cocoa pod husks, producing potash that acts as a natural alkali to produce soap from palm oil.
Key FFF inputs for this modernised soap production were the acquisition of a new oil press and equipment, and training women cocoa producers in hygienic soap production standards, as well as support for market-oriented packaging and labelling.
FFF also facilitated market access through the participation in fairs and the creation of an online marketing platform.
Significance of impact
Today, the women members or Etsonenyo produce an average of 1,720 soap bars per year, representing around 413kg. Of the price of every bar sold, each woman retains 9%, while the cooperative receives the rest.
The marketing of cocoa husk soap generates an additional income for the cooperative of 150,000 West African CFA francs (US$270) per woman producer per year.
The additional income has increased the economic independence, leadership and decision‑making power of women within the cooperative. Simultaneously, the financial autonomy of the cooperative has strengthened.
Women producers have improved their technical, business and organisational capacities, which ultimately improves the sustainability of their livelihoods.
Conclusion
By helping turning cocoa waste into value-added products, FFF has diversified women producers’ incomes, strengthened their leadership within the Etsonenyo cooperative, and built household and institutional resilience through an inclusive and circular approach that can be easily scaled across cocoa-producing communities in Togo and beyond.
Further reading
Insight: Tapioca tech in Togo – how producers are organising to transform lives and land, Duncan Macqueen (2020)