[{"bbox": [82, 131, 1146, 451], "category": "Text", "text": "In November 2020, two major hurricanes (ETA and IOTA) hit Nicaragua in the Caribbean and North-Centre territories, causing substantial damages in agricultural and forestry areas. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (2020), the hurricanes damaged 130,000 hectares of agriculture, including coffee (4,834 ha) and cocoa (2,451 hectares and 2,577 smallholders). In addition, the National Commission for Cocoa Promotion reported damages to post-harvest operations, particularly in the drying and storage centres, affecting the transformation process. The National Commission for the Cocoa's damage assessment amounted to USD 58.4 million, related to the reduction of private investment, in terms of area of cocoa (2,525 ha, around USD 41.4 million), processing infrastructure (USD 3.1 million), and reduction of access to credit (USD 13.5 Million). Finally, cocoa exports were reduced by 37.2 percent in terms of volume, when compared to the previous period (November 2019-January 2020 vs. November 2020 - January 2021). The negative effect of the sustained social and economic crisis, combined with the damage caused by the two hurricanes cannot be reversed in the short term, since recovering key crops such as coffee and cocoa requires at least four years."}, {"bbox": [82, 475, 1146, 769], "category": "Text", "text": "Cocoa production represents a key option for economic reactivation, social inclusion, women's empowerment and environmental sustainability. Women participate in all steps of the cocoa value chain. However, their contribution often becomes invisible behind the \"family\" label, leaving men, who usually own the land, as official producers in the statistics. This is one of the main reasons why women see their access to financial services and technical assistance restricted. Notwithstanding, women play a key role in guaranteeing the quality in the harvesting and post-harvest processes and carry out, almost exclusively, all transformation activities. Value chain projects targeting small-holder female farmers in Nicaragua have shown a positive impact on improving diet quality (although food use was analysed only at household level and not at individual level) as well as on some dimensions of women's empowerment (with significant gains on leadership). However, it has also increased women's time demand on agricultural work at the expense of other activities, which highlights the unequal distribution of work between men and women, and the need to change this structural gap."}, {"bbox": [82, 793, 1146, 954], "category": "Text", "text": "On the other hand, rural youth require economic opportunities and skills training to allow them to progress, while contributing to local development and becoming agents of change. While cocoa-producing areas suffer from a lack of trained personnel in matters related to cocoa production and processing, young people often choose to migrate in search of education and work opportunities not available in their communities. Technical training offered in rural areas does not correspond to productive needs. To some extent, cooperatives supply these needs, but in a limited and insufficient way."}, {"bbox": [82, 978, 1146, 1246], "category": "Text", "text": "Exporting to the EU requires meeting minimum residues, ochratoxine and cadmium standards, which demands strengthened local capacities for ex-ante controls. Non-EU countries must incorporate the updated EU Sanitary and phytosanitary standards to their control system. Traceability is a private demand for accessing niche markets as a way to ensure the fine and flavour category, which guarantees higher prices than the commodity one. Traceability is also a main step for establishing origin denomination schemes. Since 2020, private companies are also demanding evidence of COVID-19 precautionary measures and labour standards (ILO). The National Commission for Cocoa Promotion has already made small investments for meeting some of these requirements in order to maintain and even expand exports to the European markets, but further investments are necessary to increase volume and number of beneficiary producers. The implementation of the Association Agreement includes support for Central American countries to meet European market requirements."}, {"bbox": [82, 1270, 1146, 1510], "category": "Text", "text": "The Team Europe Initiative (TEI) Green Recovery stresses as priority actions the promotion of climate change mitigation and adaptation and resilient agriculture and promotion of agrobiodiversity as part of the Farm to Fork Strategy. It identifies support to green value chains as a vehicle for achieving both objectives. Switzerland is already active in this field and Spain has confirmed its participation in the development and implementation of this action, including with EUR 300,000 in 2021 and possible further funding in the following years. The commitment of the EU's contribution to the Team Europe Initiatives foreseen under this annual action plan will be complemented by other contributions from Team Europe partners. It is subject to the formal confirmation of each respective partners' meaningful contribution as early as possible. In the event that the TEIs and/or these contributions do not materialise the EU action may continue outside a TEI framework."}, {"bbox": [82, 1534, 1146, 1643], "category": "Text", "text": "The main stakeholders of the action are: i) rights-holders' representatives: cocoa producers and farmer organizations that collect, transform and commercialize grains and chocolate. ii) rights-holders: women producers, who tend to be landless and relegated to traditional secondary roles, and their organizations. Indigenous and afro descendent communities in the Caribbean, which have the worst development indicators and have been traditionally neglected"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1662, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 7 of 22"}]