ETG | Beyond Beans launched Nestlé's Income Accelerator Program in Côte d'Ivoire during the 2021–2022 crop season. It is an innovative, family-centered initiative designed to help close the living income gap and reduce child labor risks among cocoa-farming households. The program now covers five cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire and one farmer group in Ghana, reaching 6,318 households in 130 cocoa-growing communities across both countries.
The Income Accelerator provides cash incentives and targeted support to encourage changes in both farming and household practices, helping to improve livelihoods. This includes support for pruning cocoa trees, the provision of shade trees to promote good agricultural practices and regenerative agriculture, encouraging school enrollment for children, and creating additional income opportunities for women. Households can receive up to €500 in cash incentives, paid directly to recipients' phones.
In 2025, the incentive structure was simplified into two core areas:
Participating families have already reported higher yields, greater adoption of good agricultural practices such as pruning and agroforestry, increased participation in Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), and progress on women's financial inclusion. Households also reported a notable rise in income, driven by both productivity gains and higher farmgate prices.
In 2025, ETG | Beyond Beans delivered:
Côte d'Ivoire
2025 marked the program's fourth year in Côte d'Ivoire, with activities focused on five supplying cooperatives representing 4,318 households. Alongside ongoing work on farm productivity, child well-being, agroforestry, and income diversification, several new initiatives launched this year: literacy classes, a black soldier fly farm, and school meal provision.
This year's main focus was on income-generating activities. One notable new activity was the establishment of a black soldier fly farm. The six women managing it are highly engaged, earning income from selling eggs, chickens, and larvae. Starting in 2026, they'll also be able to use the farm's frass by-product on their own vegetable crops, with potential to sell it to cocoa farmers as fertilizer. The pilot has already generated turnover of more than €500 in under six months, a strong early result that supports the case for testing small, targeted income-generating pilots that can open multiple revenue streams.
The program also trained and equipped 368 service groups, targeting 4,318 farms for maintenance pruning and 3,946 farms for new pruning. A further 1,358 farms benefited from compost set-up and spreading, covering up to 100 cocoa trees per farm.
Ghana
In Ghana, activities reached 2,000 households across 58 communities in the Bekwai and Nsokote districts. The program established 95 labor groups to support 2,000 cocoa farms for new pruning, training and equipping 950 group members with pruning tools and equipment. This resulted in 1,511 hectares of new pruning (reaching 1,907 farmers) and 1,339 hectares of maintenance pruning (reaching 1,866 farmers). All 2,000 participating households received training on good agricultural practices, and 1,827 households committed to enrolling and keeping their children in school.
Through the Income Accelerator Program, ETG | Beyond Beans and Nestlé are continuing to drive the adoption of good agricultural practices, boost cocoa productivity, diversify and increase household incomes, keep children in school, and strengthen household resilience.
