Cocoa Horizons truck unveiled

Barry Callebaut has unveiled the Cocoa Horizons truck. The truck is a  multi-purpose mobile unit powered by solar energy, which provides space for farmer training sessions in good agricultural practices, basic health care services, literacy training and child labour sensitisation programmes. The truck, built in Belgium, will now be shipped to Côte d’Ivoire where it will travel through the cocoa growing regions as of July.

The team on board the truck will include Barry Callebaut’s own farmer training experts. Depending on the needs of the respective community, a nurse and a teacher will also be on board to provide basic health care, such as vaccination programmes and educational services. The truck will start its journey in San Pedro, a major cocoa growing area in the West of Côte d’Ivoire, gradually moving East. It will visit every village three to four times a year, staying for about one week at a time.

Hervé Beerens, responsible for the Cocoa Horizons truck project, explains the unique training concept, “As many cocoa farmers cannot read, training will take place in the form of theatre sketches, with the truck serving as a stage. This kind of entertaining training format is very effective and will help close the knowledge gaps farmers have in good agricultural practices.”

 

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