FORI results Haiti
FORI | Project results | Haiti
Farmers leading the research on coffee and cocoa agroforestry
86% of participating farmers diversified their agroecological practices, against a target of 75%. In the Baptiste region of Haiti's Central Plateau, eight coffee cooperatives worked with a Haitian university to analyse their own soils, design three agroforestry models by altitude, open the region's first cocoa nursery and start making fertiliser from what their farms already produce. All of it under a national security crisis that made travel to the research site the hardest part.
Photo: UPA DI
Why this project
A coffee region losing its trees, its soil and its climate
Baptiste is the water tower of the Lascahobas arrondissement: what happens to its slopes determines the water supply of several communities downstream. For generations its economy has rested on coffee agroforestry, and that system has been coming apart. Economic, demographic, natural and institutional pressures have thinned the tree cover. Coffee itself is under attack from pests, disease and repeated extreme weather, and warming is making the crop steadily harder to grow at low altitude.
The Carboneutre AYITI agroforestry project set out to answer that on two fronts at once: rebuild diversified agroforestry on degraded land, and introduce cocoa as a low-altitude crop where coffee no longer performs. Both according to agroecological principles, and both researched by the farmers themselves.
It is led by the Union des coopératives caféières de Baptiste (UCOCAB) and its eight base cooperatives, with UPA Développement international (UPA DI) as agri-agency and the Faculty of Agronomy of the Université Chrétienne du Nord d'Haïti (UCNH) as research partner.
What the farmers did
A farmer-led research cycle
It started with 91 participatory surveys of how farmers in the zone actually work and what they are up against. From that, 30 hectares were selected among cooperative members, then 15 of the 91 plots were sampled in detail to find out whether these soils could carry cocoa at all. Two successive research agreements with UCNH followed: the first on agroforestry systems, the second on turning farm residues into fertiliser.
Diagnosis of the zone
91 participatory surveys on cultivation habits and the difficulties farmers face. Thirty hectares selected among members of the base cooperatives against eligibility criteria.
Each site was visited and assessed for soil degradation, shade, slope, altitude and tree cover, then geolocated and photographed in its initial state, with the findings entered on a digital form.
Soil research and agroforestry design
Fifteen of the 91 plots were selected at random across three altitude bands, a 16.5% sample, and studied for both chemical fertility and biological life using the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility method for soil macrofauna.
Three agroforestry models were then defined by altitude, nine local nurseries were run, temporary shade was established with bananas and pigeon pea, and the systems were planted during the rainy season.
A second research question: fertiliser
A second cooperation agreement between UCOCAB and UCNH was signed in September 2025, on valorising production and processing residues to make organic fertiliser.
The first field mission ran from 14 to 19 December 2025: focus groups by altitude band, an inventory of the sources, types, qualities and quantities of organic matter available in the zone, and the first recipe trials.
UCNH's researchers were due in Baptiste in the first quarter of 2025 to present the soil results. It proved impossible to move the team, so they briefed the UCOCAB team remotely instead, and UCOCAB then took the findings to the members of all eight cooperatives using the printed technical sheets. Dialogue and advocacy meetings often happen on WhatsApp or Zoom for the same reason.
Getting to Baptiste means vehicle then motorbike from Haut-Limbé, with detours to avoid bandits, on roads that heavy rain can close outright.
With Port-au-Prince airport closed and fuel scarce, UPA DI's programme officer could not run a field mission in 2025. Instead Micheline Mezadieu, agronomist and professional trainer with the UCOCAB team, travelled to Canada in April 2025, routed through the Dominican Republic as the safest option.
She worked with the UPA DI team on the activity review, training and research planning, results monitoring methodology and the technical sheets, learned how the Union des Producteurs Agricoles is organised, and gave two conferences on the realities facing the next generation of Haitian farmers.
Results at a glance
Planned against achieved, 2025
Bars compare the target with what was reached within each indicator. They are not scaled against one another, because the units differ. The last indicator is the one that fell short, and it is shown in orange.
Two indicators sit at exactly their target by design: one leading producer organisation holding a formal cooperation agreement on agroecology, which UCOCAB has now signed twice with UCNH, and the three partner entities taking part in dialogue and advocacy. The headline impact indicator, the share of participating farmers who have diversified their agroecological practices, stands at 86%, or 420 farmers out of 490, against a 75% target and a 100% end goal.
What the research found
Four answers the farmers now have
The first research project asked four questions, all of them practical: which trees can be planted with coffee and cocoa, which of those can be raised in the cooperatives' own nurseries, which cocoa varieties suit Baptiste, and whether these soils can carry cocoa at all.
Three agroforestry models, one per altitude band
The innovation is not a single system but a set of three, matched to where the plot sits on the slope. All three combine fruit trees, legumes, bananas, shade trees and food crops: maize, beans and yam.
- Below 900 m: cocoa-based system
- 900 to 1,200 m: coffee with cocoa, or a mixed system
- Above 1,200 m: coffee-based system
Sites were prepared with temporary shade from bananas and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), planted in the rainy season, then followed up with weeding, pruning and protection from animals.
Species the cooperatives can raise themselves
Several useful species are already present in the zone and can be multiplied locally from seed, cuttings or young plants, at an affordable cost:
- Sucrin (Inga vera), a legume with high-germination fresh seed, fast growing, nitrogen fixing, excellent shade for cocoa and very well suited to community nurseries
- Laurier (Cordia alliodora), easy, fast in the nursery, drought resistant once established, used for shade, timber and forest regeneration
- Trompette (Cecropia peltata), light abundant seed, fast growing, ideal for land under regeneration
- Bois rouge (Guarea trichilioides), more technical from seed, good for timber and shade
- Avocado and mango, from seed or grafting, high value as both fruit and shade
Three species of high agroecological and economic interest are not yet present in the zone: Gmelina arborea, Samanea saman and Spondias mombin.
Which cocoa varieties suit Baptiste
For the zone, and particularly below 1,000 m, three types are recommended for their resilience, vigour, adaptability to local soil and climate, and yield potential:
- Amelonado, hardy and productive, widely grown in Haiti, very disease resistant, tolerant of moderate soils and climatic shocks
- Contamana, vigorous, well adapted to humid tropical conditions, resilient to water stress, fast growing
- Nanay, an upper-Amazon Forastero type performing well at moderate altitude
Nacional is more disease sensitive but has superior aromatic quality, which makes it a useful complement in a diversified planting. Iquitos suits slightly acid soils and humid tropical climates like Baptiste.
What the soils actually said
Fifteen plots, five per altitude band, at least 300 m apart. In each, a 10 m by 10 m zone was marked out for five samples taken at three depths, with soil fauna sorted by hand and physico-chemical samples augered to 20 cm. The soil study used 1,000 m as its lower band cut-off, where the agroforestry models use 900 m.
- Acidity is the main problem: pH below 5 in most plots, which limits the availability of phosphorus, calcium and magnesium and can mobilise aluminium
- Organic matter is good, above 4% in several samples, which feeds microbial activity and soil macrofauna
- Electrical conductivity low to moderate, though a few plots exceed 1,500 µS/m, a risk of osmotic stress for cocoa in dry spells
- 2,716 invertebrates counted. Haplotaxida, the earthworm order, were the most representative group across all three strata. For earthworms specifically, richness rises with altitude: 297 individuals below 1,000 m against 565 above 1,200 m, the lower figure explained by more intense human activity
- Agroforestry pays biologically: coffee plantations under agroforestry and agroecological management had better chemical fertility, higher average macrofauna abundance and more earthworms, ants, beetles and spiders
Correct acidity with amendments such as crushed limestone or ash, monitor salinity, and improve moisture management with compost, bokashi, biofertilisers and the collection and appropriate use of livestock slurry and poultry droppings, alongside organic mulching. Which is precisely why the second research project is about fertiliser.
Photo: UPA DI
The second research project
Fertiliser made from what the farms already produce
Farmers in Baptiste used to buy chemical fertiliser for their coffee. They have largely stopped, for three reasons they name themselves: no money, no local supply, and no technical guidance. Meanwhile the price of a 50 kg sack of chicken manure has gone from 1,000 to 1,500 to 2,000 gourdes.
The December 2025 mission ran focus groups in each of the three altitude strata, inventoried the organic matter actually available, and tried recipes on the spot. What it found was not a blank slate: technicians and some producers already had a local bokashi initiative that the population had taken up, made from cow dung, charcoal powder, sawdust, sugar and baker's yeast. The UCOCAB technical team had proposed it for two reasons, the materials are available locally and it is quick to make. Asked to choose, the six participants present voted unanimously for bokashi over ordinary compost and vermicomposting.
A rapid composting trial followed, using a biostimulant of water, sugar and yeast at 100 g per tonne with local materials: animal dung, charcoal, sawdust, dry and green straw. It works in 18 to 20 days if the carbon to nitrogen balance, moisture, regular turning, shade and prior grinding are respected. A liquid fertiliser from animal manure was also demonstrated.
On Wilson Jean-François's plot, banana stems and bean residues are put back to work and ash is used to correct soil acidity: the mission recorded it as an example of good agroecological practice. UCOCAB's own carbon plot, coffee with banana, cabbage, sugar cane and forest species, was identified as a potential site for a vermicomposting centre.
A plot at 1,400 m was found to be under intensive herbicide use, which the mission flagged as an environmental risk. The recommendation is to phase herbicides out with mulching, cover crops and manual or animal-draught weeding.
Photo: UPA DI
The mission's 13 recommendations, in four groups December 2025
- 1. Structure production of compost, bokashi, compost tea and vermicompost through simplified technical protocols adapted to each altitude band Technical
- 8. Treat organic fertiliser production as an income-generating activity, particularly for women and young people Socioeconomic
- 2. Promote grinders and simple equipment to prepare organic matter and make composting more efficient Technical
- 9. Encourage local sales while keeping priority access for UCOCAB members Socioeconomic
- 3. Encourage reasoned use of ash to correct soil acidity without creating chemical imbalances Technical
- 10. Cut production costs by reducing dependence on imported commercial fertiliser Socioeconomic
- 4. Phase out chemical herbicides by spreading agroecological alternatives Technical
- 11. Continue regular physico-chemical analysis of the fertilisers produced and the soils amended Research
- 5. Set up a community production centre at UCOCAB, serving as production, training and demonstration site Organisational
- 12. Document the effects of organic fertilisers on crop productivity, soil biodiversity and carbon sequestration Research
- 6. Build the capacity of UCOCAB technicians and professional trainers through continuous training Organisational
- 13. Strengthen links between universities, research centres and farmer organisations so the innovations last Research
- 7. Develop inclusive governance mechanisms guaranteeing women and young people a place in decision-making bodies Organisational
"This approach rests on the co-construction of knowledge, local experimentation and collective learning, recognising peasant knowledge as an essential component of agroecological innovation." UCNH mission report, December 2025
One innovation in detail
A crop the region had never grown
The hardest part was the seed. None was available locally, so it was collected from elite trees in the north and carried to Baptiste by an agronomist who specialises in the crop.
In February 2025, agronomist and trainer Bruno Rodney ran the founding mission. Contacts were made with producers holding elite cocoa trees in Grande Rivière du Nord, and on 10 and 11 February 585 pods were collected of the 625 targeted, routed through Cap-Haïtien. On 12 February the team travelled to Baptiste with a UCOCAB delegation.
On 13 and 14 February, about thirty people, nursery workers, programme staff and cooperative lead trainers, took the first training session on installing and running a cocoa nursery: varietal characterisation, pre-germination technique, sowing principles, substrate preparation, maintenance and monitoring. Sowing of pre-germinated seed began on 15 February and continued on 17 and 18 February with a larger group of producers, technicians and cooperative officers. On 19 February, about twenty people were trained on establishing a cocoa plot, which starts not with cocoa but with the associated crops that provide temporary and permanent shade.
The trainer's own tally records 18,000 seedlings sown against the 20,000 planned, some containers having taken two seeds. UCOCAB's technical team then supported the nursery worker through the raising of close to 20,000 seedlings, and the first cocoa and mixed plots were planted in autumn 2025.
Photo: UPA DI
Cocoa needs well-distributed rainfall with a dry period no longer than three months, and the mission found the soils badly short of water. Most of the land is clay, whereas cocoa prefers a sandy clay. Climate also affects germination of the beans.
His conclusion all the same: Baptiste can now be counted as a new cocoa-producing zone in Haiti. The climate is favourable, the land is identified, the producers are motivated, and he noted particular dedication among the women.
How it was governed
Two research agreements, signed by a farmer organisation
The research relationship is contractual and farmer-held. UCOCAB signed its first cooperation agreement with UCNH on 1 March 2024, covering the agroforestry systems work, which is now complete. It signed a second in September 2025 for the research on residues and organic fertiliser. In both cases the university brings expertise in agroforestry, cocoa and soils, and the farmer organisation sets the questions and owns the results.
Around that sit regular dialogue meetings between UCNH, the UCOCAB team, its eight member cooperatives, UPA DI and nOula, the Quebec cooperative that sells the coffee. UCOCAB also keeps working relationships with local authorities and representatives of the main Haitian ministries.
Few contacts took place with state authorities, which the report attributes plainly to the weakness of the Haitian state. UCOCAB keeps up minimal relations with some ministries, and it has not stopped the work progressing.
On the relationship with public institutionsUPA DI and UCOCAB have worked together for years, and the report names that relational capital as one of the reasons the project keeps moving despite the sociopolitical situation. Meetings cover programming and financial monitoring alike.
Who benefits
Women and young people
Fifty-two participants were recruited to establish the agroforestry systems. UCOCAB set out to have 25% women landholders among them, which is an ambitious target in a context where women struggle to access land and few hold title to it. The target was passed: 31%, or 16 of the 52.
Sixteen women and five young people are running local experiments in their own right, having established an agroforestry system on the family farm and keeping up regular follow-up with the project's technicians. Inside UCOCAB itself, two of the team are women professional trainers, and six of the eight members are young people.
Those professional trainers are the mechanism. They lead the training and awareness work and handle gender and youth inclusion specifically. The effect is measurable: in 2022 and 2023 very few women attended, and participation rose markedly in 2024 and 2025. From the start of the project to 31 December 2025, these activities have reached 1,055 women and 600 young people.
In December 2025 a session was held specifically for the women taking part in the programme, to work through the needs and difficulties that are particular to them rather than assume the general activities cover it.
Photo: UPA DI
Photo: UPA DI
Performance against the 2025 targets
Where the project stands
Dissemination
The results went public
Technical sheets, in both languages
The two research findings were turned into illustrated technical sheets, printed and laminated, available in French and Haitian Creole, and distributed on a training and awareness tour of all eight cooperatives.
Thirty-five events in 2025 in total: practical cocoa nursery training in February, awareness workshops on agroforestry in March, action research and sustainable agroforestry in June, exchange visits to the nurseries and plots in July, food security and plot maintenance in August, and the women's workshop in December.
Three capitalisation reports
A mission and training report on running a cocoa nursery, February 2025. A detailed report on the biological and chemical soil analyses, available since June 2025. The capitalisation report on the December 2025 biofertiliser mission, shared alongside the annual report.
The soil report was written by UCNH and commented on by UCOCAB and UPA DI before release, then shared with AgriCord alongside the 2025 semi-annual report. The biofertiliser report was revised and shared with the annual report, and will be taken to UCOCAB members during the second mission.
Eleven publications in 2025
Two in-person conferences in Montreal and Longueuil. Three Facebook posts by UPA DI and one by nOula. An article in the virtual magazine of AQANU. A mention in UPA DI's 2024 annual report, published September 2025. A post in UPA DI's e-newsletter. The two technical sheets count in the same total.
Partner and donor contributions were also acknowledged at the training and research activities throughout the year.
What it means going forward
Held by eight cooperatives and a permanent nursery
What continues is not a project structure but a set of assets that now belong locally: a permanent cocoa nursery in a region that had never grown the crop, three agroforestry models matched to the altitude bands, technical sheets in Creole and French in the hands of all eight cooperatives, two women professional trainers who have changed who turns up to training, and a research relationship with UCNH that has already been renewed once.
The recommended next step is a community fertiliser production centre at UCOCAB, doubling as a training and demonstration site, which would turn the December findings into a standing service for members and an income-generating activity for women and young people.
The wider commercial picture is being built in parallel: continuing synergies with AYITIKA SA on organic fertiliser and FECCANO on Haitian cocoa, one of whose agronomists already supports the nursery, and the market study due in April 2026. The coffee route to Quebec through nOula is already in place.
Photo: UPA DI
Resources
Download the outputs
Technical sheet 1: Biological and chemical analysis of agricultural soils in the Baptiste regionFR AND KREYÒL | PDF | 2 pages | Illustrated field sheet
Technical sheet 2: Cocoa and coffee based agroforestry systems in the Baptiste regionFR AND KREYÒL | PDF | 2 pages | Illustrated field sheet
This project is part of the FORI programme (Farmer-led Research and Innovation), implemented by the AgriCord Alliance with the financial support of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
