Program Sites

The SUCCESS Alliance Phase I worked with more than 5,000 farmers in northern Luzon, Palawan and western Mindanao. While farmers were able to plant seedlings under the USAID project, their trees will not be productive for one to two years, at which time farmers will require additional training in pest management, post-harvest handling and marketing. As part of SUCCESS Alliance Phase II, ACDI/VOCA will provide follow-on training for at least 3,000 farmers who have implemented what they learned in their first training. Drying and fermentation centers will be established in these regions, and there will be significantly increased in production by the project's end.

The response to the project has been overwhelmingly positive, and farmer groups and local governments throughout the Philippines have requested training from SUCCESS and have sent letters of support. ACDI/VOCA will significantly increase the number of trained farmers in the previously targeted regions as well as expand operations into southern Luzon, Panay and Davao. These regions were chosen based on the appropriateness of their geographic conditions as well as in response to numerous expressions of interest from farmer groups and local governments. Additionally, there is a long history of cocoa production in the Davao region, so training there will focus on rehabilitating existing cocoa trees of farmers interested in boosting production. Drying and fermentation centers will be established in Davao, as proper pest management can yield significant increases in production within three months. In other areas, farmers with existing coconut fields will be targeted, as coconut provides an ideal source of shade for intercropped cocoa trees.