Closing the income gap of cocoa households in Côte d’Ivoire – taking a gender-sensitive household approach
The living income gap of a typical cocoa growing household in Côte d’Ivoire is about two thirds of the net income required for a decent standard of living. To complement their seasonal income from cocoa, households generally cultivate multiple crops or do other activities such as operating small businesses. However, the earnings are still not enough to cover the costs of living. A particular challenge is the seasonality of cocoa and food production, which means that income and access to food is not continuous throughout the year. In addition, cocoa households’ main expenditures (covering education, food and health costs) also fluctuate, which results in periods of particular hardship, particularly from July to September.
Cocoa households usually have different male and female income earners, whereby, depending on the type of household, the men spend usually more time on cocoa production activities and the production of other ‘cash crops’, while women usually spend more time on food crop production, small businesses and trade.
Earlier studies have demonstrated that it cannot be assumed that men and women in the same household have the same preferences and decision-making power, or that the income is spent for the benefit of the whole household.
In this study, we took a gender-sensitive household approach towards looking at closing the living income gap with the aim of identifying more integrated and tailored solutions that benefit all members of cocoa growing households.
Area of focus: Cocoa
Author(s): Adama Bah, Anna Laven
Organisation/institution: KIT