This Acorn project, run by our partner Solidaridad in alliance with International Center for Tropical Agriculture (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) in Nicaragua, supports over 9,500 smallholder cocoa and coffee farmers in Jinotega and Matagalpa.
The rural communities in the Departments of Jinotega and Matagalpa have been characterized as having moderate poverty levels. Coffee and cocoa production in this region has been negatively impacted by the changing climate, resulting in an increase of pests and disease. From 2012 to 2015, the coffee sector was seriously affected by leaf rust disease, which destroyed many farms – particularly those with intolerant cofee varieties. Farmers have been slowly recovering from this outbreak, through the planting of more resistant varieties.
Additionally, in recent years, production costs have risen significantly. While coffee prices specifically are currently at a 10-year high, profits that farmers receive are limited by significantly increased production costs due to high agricultural input costs because of shortages in the COVID era, high labor costs, as well as the removal of previous tax exemptions on agricultural inputs.
As a result, farmers are barely able to break even. The threat of climate change and the impacts of disease outbreaks were the initial driving factors that sparked farmers’ interest in transitioning to agroforestry. However, it was the additional incentive of carbon finance that enabled farmers to commit to practicing long-term agroforestry in a period during which they experience high production costs, leading to low productivity, and low profits.
Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation established in 1969 that aims to create fair and sustainable supply chains. With 55 years of experience in developing solutions to make communities more resilient, they operate in over 40 countries worldwide to enable farmers, mines and workers to earn a decent income, shape their own future, and produce in balance with nature.
Coffee and cocoa are strategic pillars of the Nicaraguan economy, both for their importance in exports and for their role in supporting thousands of smallholder farmers. In this context, agroforestry systems represent a highly profitable investment that boosts productivity, reduces climate risks, and improves crop quality.
The Acorn project in Nicaragua enables smallholder farmers in the region to overcome low productivity and crop loss from climate change by transitioning from cultivated land to agroforestry. In addition to climate change mitigation, the agroforestry systems promoted by Solidaridad also serve as a climate change adaptation strategy in coffee and cocoa landscapes. The integration of trees within these coffee and cocoa systems enhances biodiversity, protects crops and topsoil from harsh weather conditions, and provides a financial and environmental safeguard for farmers when facing disease and pest outbreaks, floods, drought, or other climate-related disasters.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
