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GATWICK, UK – Nestlé’s income accelerator programme is delivering measurable improvements in income and household resilience among participating cocoa-farming families in Côte d’Ivoire. This is according to a new independent evaluation by the KIT Institute assessing progress made by the program in 2024.
Despite the 2023/2024 cocoa season being one of the most challenging in recent years, marked by poor cocoa harvests due to changing weather patterns, households participating in the programme have seen yields 18% higher than the control group of cocoa farmers not in the programme. This has resulted in increased total net income, with participating households earning 15% more than their peers.
The report also shows that cocoa farms in the programme are healthier. This is largely related to participating farmers’ adoption of good agricultural practices, including pruning, weeding, shade management and pest control, as well as their investment in labour. Composting was also introduced as a new element in the programme.
Laurent Freixe, CEO of Nestlé, said: “Our income accelerator programme is one of our key sustainability initiatives and we are committed to expanding it further in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, our main cocoa origins. We welcome the interest of governments and other industry players in our approach. Together, we will be able to scale up our work for more impact.”
Community impact
The programme has substantially improved the resilience1 and the well-being of cocoa farming households. According to the KIT Institute report, the income accelerator programme is enhancing children’s well-being2, improving food security, and empowering women.
Overall, the programme’s unique approach—distributing mobile money equally between both heads of household—has helped foster gender equity and financial resilience.
Based on feedback from farming families and partners, the next phase of the programme will simplify incentive structures to improve clarity and speed of implementation while maintaining the same level of financial support. Incentives will focus on two core areas: farm support (pruning) and household support (schooling) while continuing to deliver a broad set of activities.
Darrell High, Nestlé Cocoa Manager, said: “Since launching the income accelerator programme pilot in 2020, we have continuously refined our approach based on feedback from farming families and independent evaluations. This report confirms that even in a challenging year, the programme is making a real difference, which is very encouraging.”
Key results among programme’s participants:
- 15% higher total household net income*
- 18% increase in cocoa yields*
- 21% increase in net cocoa profit accelerated by the rise in cocoa prices*
- 18% higher women empowerment index3
- 31% increase of children well-being4
- 88% of children were enrolled in school in 2024, up from 81% in 2022
About the report and the Nestlé’s income accelerator programme
The progress report, conducted by the KIT Institute, evaluated the programme’s impact over the first 30 months of its test-at scale phase, examining a sample of about 2,000 households spanning 28 cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire. Nestlé scaled its income accelerator from 1,000 families in the 2020 pilot to 10,000 at launch in 2022, reaching 30,000 families in 2024. The company aims to engage 50,000 families by 2026, with a long-term goal of supporting an estimated160,000 cocoa-farming households by 2030.
Launched fully in January 2022, the income accelerator programme is a family-centered initiative designed to help close the living income gap and reduce child labour risks in West Africa. The programme incentivises and enables positive practices both on the farm and within the household, including school enrollment, good agricultural practices, agroforestry, and income diversification.
