Cocoa pod husks are typically discarded after harvest and left on farm to decompose and release methane. At the same time, many cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire have low yields and still depend on synthetic fertilizers to boost their yields.
In a pilot project running from 2025 to 2026 in Côte d’Ivoire, we are testing whether this waste can be converted into biochar, a carbon-rich soil amendment whose use stretches back 10,000 years to the Amazon Basin, and which can not only be used as a fertilizer that improves soil health but also lock away carbon.
The project involves more than 250 cocoa farming households and is led by ETG | Beyond Beans, in partnership with the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO), BioYam Côte d’Ivoire, and ETG Inputs Holdco Limited (EIHL).
The project has four main aims:
- Converting cocoa waste into a fertilizer that can replace synthetic alternatives
- Providing farmers with additional income through waste collection
- Improving soil health and yields through biochar application
- Establishing a framework for carbon credit generation linked to biochar use.
Small-scale trials have already shown measurable carbon sequestration, which is the basis for scaling the approach. The project began by improving how cocoa waste is collected and prepared. A biochar kiln then processes this waste, and the output is tested for quality and performance.
Biochar-based fertilizer blends are being developed and trialed on cocoa and other crops. The project is also testing different ways of compensating farmers for their waste, including cash payments and fertilizer in exchange for biomass, to determine which model works best for farm output and farmer income.
The biochar unit is part of a larger Zero Waste Facility that also produces cocoa juice from parts of the cocoa fruit that are otherwise unused. The juice production line is designed around women’s participation, with women involved as collectors, processors, and marketers. This is intended to create an income opportunity for women in cocoa-growing communities, where women often work unpaid on family farms.
Beyond soil health and farmer income, the project is also developing frameworks for both offsetting and insetting. This involves measuring the emissions reductions and carbon sequestration achieved through biochar production and use, with the goal of eventually generating carbon credits.
If the pilot proves successful, the ambition is to build a replicable, commercially viable model for industrial biochar production that other cocoa-growing regions can adopt contributing to lower-carbon cocoa production and giving farmers a new source of income from material that would otherwise go to waste, and to help set a new standard for the industry.
