The Income Accelerator Program (IAP) aims to tackle key issues facing farm households in the cocoa sector – such as Living Income (LI) gap, child labor, and lack of women empowerment – by enhancing cocoa productivity, increasing additional income sources, improving gender equality, creating a professional labor force, and improving access to loans and savings.

The pilot Income Accelerator Program started in late 2020 by enrolling 1,030 cocoa farming households in two locations in Côte d’Ivoire. In early 2022, the program was expanded to another 10,000 households.

But this midline impact report concentrates on the original 1,030, from which the pilot was able to reach 1,004 of the intended group of households. It aims to present the intermediate effects of the program halfway its implementation, focusing on the effects observed 12 to 18 months after the start of the pilot phase.

Highlights from the report:

• The Accelerator pilot has had a positive influence on encouraging the development of alternative income sources (on average 0.6 sources more than in the comparison group), including selling livestock (effect size of 10 percentage points). Although cocoa remains the primary crop for generating income, it appears that the program has reduced its predominance as the sole source of income with 11 percentage points.

• The architectural pruning is positively correlated with cocoa farm productivity and increases average yield levels by almost 20% while increasing the probability that a farm household produces on average one metric ton of cocoa per hectare by 13 percentage points. 

• School enrollment rates have improved, with an eight percentage point increase among participating households compared to a four percentage point decrease in the comparison group, highlighting the program’s intermediate success in promoting education.

To know more, you can download the report below.