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In Ecuador, the fourth phase of the Integrated Country Approach for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agrifood system (ICA-4 project) targets the cocoa value chain. Cocoa is a strategic crop for Ecuador, which was the world’s second-largest exporter in 2024.

The value chain provides employment for around 400 000 people and contributes 8.2 percent to agricultural gross value added. In addition, the growing demand for high-quality cocoa and cocoa-based products is creating opportunities for innovation, value addition, and youth-led economic diversification.

Young people are already actively involved in the different nodes of the value chain, mainly as family labourers, seasonal agricultural workers or employees, although few are recognized as self-employed producers or entrepreneurs. In fact, only 5 percent of producers are under 30, while the average producer age of 56 reflects a significant gap in generational renewal.

Several challenges limit the capacity of the value chain to generate entrepreneurship and employment opportunities for youth. These include the low profitability in primary production, quality and value-added gaps as well as threats to genetic diversity due to the expansion of the monoculture of the CCN-51 cacao variety, and the lack of incentives for fine aroma cocoa. Additional barriers include limited access to credit and support services, job insecurity, weak governance of the value chain, and persisting gender-based discriminatory norms.

Based on a youth-sensitive analysis conducted in the provinces of Manabí and Napo, the ICA-4 project has selected the following three intervention areas:

• Improve the participation of young people in the production of inputs in nurseries and the provision of services such as pruning, grafting and traceability in alliance with exporters or producer organizations.
• Strengthen the business ecosystem for young entrepreneurs, to facilitate youth access to credit, training and adapted incubation services.
• Strengthen the enabling environment for the improvement of employment conditions in agriculture, including through the development of a dedicated public policy for youth employment in agriculture, together with the participation of young people in dialogue mechanisms.

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