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Project Highlights
Funders
Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG (with Fuchs & Hoffmann)
Partners
SAN delivered this work in close collaboration with its network: member organizations CEFCA (Côte d’Ivoire) and RAAA (Peru), and in-country experts Aaron Attefa Ampofo (Ghana, Nigeria) and Marcell Molina (Nicaragua). Their on-the-ground insight ensured the assessment reflected local realities and partner needs while maintaining consistent, high-standard methodology.
Implementation dates
June 2019
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July 2024
Commodities
Cacao
Beneficiaries
Ritter’s sustainability/procurement teams; cocoa farmers and communities in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Nicaragua, and Peru; local buyers/traders; extension partners; and Ritter’s data/IT teams through guidance for a supply-chain platform.
About the project
An independent review assessed cocoa farms, buyers, and traders against the Ritter Target System, while examining how price structures, pricing policies, and farmer data management systems operate among Ritter suppliers in Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire. The work provides a clear view of current practices across the supply base to support consistent, standards-aligned performance.
Outcomes
Findings from SAN’s independent assessments fed directly into optimizing Ritter’s sustainability programs across origins. In Ghana, the 2024 impact evaluation focused on living income and surfaced five systemic challenges—undervalued and delayed farmer payments, land-use pressure from illegal mining, limited access to quality inputs driving low productivity, weak extension and training for farmers and caretakers, and inequitable distribution of inputs. SAN translated these insights into a practical Theory of Change with field-ready actions: continuous, cost-effective household income monitoring; train-the-trainer programs on coaching, farm business skills, safe pesticide use and waste management, labor services, and diversified on-farm income; reinstating weeding/pruning teams; restoring access to quality inputs; ensuring timely, full payments with credit guarantees; and equitable allocation of livelihood assets.
The evaluation used interviews, document reviews, and on-site observations of infrastructure, ecosystems, and plots with questionnaires built on the Ritter Sustainability Target System and a representative sample of smallholders and communities. In Peru, the work emphasized social context and compared conditions between 2019 and 2022. For Côte d’Ivoire, Nicaragua, and Nigeria, SAN also delivered an IT assessment outlining results, critical challenges, and the core functionality required for a comprehensive platform to manage Ritter’s cocoa supply network.