EU−Africa: Digital and Social Questions in a Multicultural Agroecological Transition for the Cocoa Production in Africa

Abstract

The challenge of this century is without a doubt to counter global warming. Land management, agriculture, and forests are responsible for 23% of total greenhouse gases (GHGs). In developing countries, such as those in African territories, where economic capacities are sometimes small and socio-cultural and linguistic perceptions are different, this requires a transition that is just and respectful of local culture and language, while at the same time helping to create labor conditions that respect gender and minors. This article describes a socio-technical ecological transition in the cocoa chain production in Côte d’Ivoire, which is not only the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans (45%) but also one of the African countries most prone to deforestation. Linguistic and multicultural aspects come together in Côte d’Ivoire, where more than 70 local languages are spoken. Intelligent digital approaches, agroecological issues, new methods, and sociocultural questions are embedded in a context of collaboration and co-creation, a living lab approach, to ensures sharing and co-creation among NGOs, farmers, companies, and researchers. A framework of socio-technical transition is presented, and this research aims to not only achieve the goals of a just ecological transition and reduce carbon footprint and deforestations but also to create diverse labour conditions, gender respect and inclusion.

Machine Learning as a Strategic Tool for Helping Cocoa Farmers in Côte D’Ivoire

“…With the results, we target the local smallholder cocoa producers [24], the NGOs operating in the Abidjan area (e.g., Communauté Abel, Grand Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire [25] connected with the Gruppo Abele Foundation's Choco+ initiative [26]) working with the local farmers and the local authorities in the context of Euro-African cooperation (cf. Pinardi et al 2023 paragraph 3.2 [27]).…”

“…Little emphasis is placed on the social impacts of the processes. Instead, the concern is how the transformation can take into account the social dimensions that may influence development [27]. In this context, it is also important to address the digital costs, which are particularly relevant when working in developing countries, such as Côte d'Ivoire, where, according to the World Economic Forum [45], cocoa farmer wages average around EUR 1.00 per day.…”

“…This calls for equal attention to these constraints and opens up a new area of research related to socio-technical transition [27,49,50], where ML and sensor monitoring are not only instruments to increase yield production, or to generate new business or markets [44], but are pivotal to changing the social and economical landscape of an entire region.…”