Who are the cacao farmers in Côte d’Ivoire? All experts know that cacao farming is a family-based agriculture with additional external labour, but what is the reality behind the concepts?

Many declarations and notes in international conferences assert the ageing of farmers and plantations, and the lack of interest in cacao from young people, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire. Moreover, climate change and the increase in cacao diseases, especially swollen shoot, worry the industry. In May 2016, during an international conference organised by the ICCO (the International Cocoa Organization) in Dominican Republic, chocolate companies predicted a rapid decline in world production if nothing was done. However cocoa production kept going and the world price collapsed in 2016. Indeed, this is while this false information is carried out, as during the 2016-2017 season, Côte d’Ivoire produced more than 2,000,000 tonnes. So, despite climate change, swollen shoot disease, and even if the country has consumed its forest rent, Côte d’Ivoire remains the largest producer in the world. Such an achievement would mean that old farmers and old plantations must be quite efficient...

The objective of this paper is thus to rethink some concepts and ideas concerning the ageing of farmers and plantations in the whole country, and above all to explain the changing characteristics of farmers and their plantations, related to their environment over the last 20 years.