Ecuador has emerged as the focal point of a widening international effort to prove that coffee and cocoa can be grown profitably without clearing forests, with a new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization technical mission arriving in the country the week of 3 May 2026 — the latest in a series of overlapping programs from multilateral agencies, European governments, and global food companies that have made the Andean nation a testing ground for deforestation-free supply chains.
The scale of activity on the ground is substantial. According to ESG News, confectionery company Mars, Incorporated and ingredient supplier Olam Food Ingredients (ofi) launched a five-year collaboration in April 2026 supporting over 960 cocoa farmers across more than 9,000 hectares of farmland, running through 2029 and expected to benefit approximately 4,800 people. Separately, the Zero Deforestation Hub reports that Swiss chocolate company HALBA and the GIZ-SAFE project have been partnering with local producer organisations since 2020 through a program now running until March 2027, during which around 260 farmers with the UNOCACE cooperative in Ecuador and the ACOPAGRO cooperative in Peru have already implemented agroforestry systems. By the end of 2023, chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli had established over 60 dynamic agroforestry demonstration plots in Ecuador, according to ECOTOP.
Outcome data from earlier phases of Ecuador’s deforestation-free push point to measurable gains for producers. EFE reported in July 2024 that 16,000 farmers had attended training, with productivity improving 24% and income increasing 42% between 2021 and 2023, alongside a 93% reduction in deforestation in the affected areas. The same reporting noted that US$2.3 million in 360 loans — 41% of which went to women — had been granted to support deforestation-free production. Ecuador has 93,000 hectares dedicated to coffee, cocoa, oil palm and livestock, and has avoided deforestation of more than 86,000 hectares for new crops, EFE reported.
The country’s position in global commodity markets adds weight to those figures. FAO’s Integrated Country Approach publication notes that Ecuador was the world’s second-largest cocoa exporter in 2024, and that the cocoa value chain provides employment for around 400,000 people, contributing 8.2% to agricultural gross value added.
Price signals are beginning to reflect the deforestation-free credentials of Ecuadorian crops. Víctor Yanangómez, President of the Southern Ecuador Associations of Small Ecological Coffee Growers Regional Federation (Fapecafes), told EFE that “the characteristics of the coffee and the way the crops are cultivated means Lavazza can set a higher price than for coffee from Colombia or Peru.” Italian firm Lavazza purchased 34.5 tonnes of coffee, while Belgian firm Silva Cacao bought 10.8 tonnes of cocoa, EFE reported.
The FAO’s May 2026 mission validated methodologies for georeferenced mapping of cocoa and coffee plots using digital tools Open Foris Ground and Open Foris Whisp for deforestation risk analysis, and is building synergies with the Forest and Farm Facility, a global partnership between FAO, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and AgriCord. FAO defines a forest-positive agroforestry chain as “a value chain based on agroforestry systems that generates economic, social and environmental benefits and actively contributes to the conservation and restoration of forests.”
Indigenous farming systems are central to the technical framework. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, Kichwa communities have developed the Amazonian Chakra System, which, according to FAO, integrates up to 150 species within a single plot.
Corporate participants have framed the convergence of programs as a prerequisite for meaningful change. “Building on our long-standing collaboration in cocoa sourcing, this effort demonstrates our belief that when companies share common goals, they can deepen cooperation and drive more meaningful impact at scale,” said Benjamin Guilbert, Global Vice President for Cocoa at Mars, Incorporated, in the ESG News report. Andrew Brooks, Head of Cocoa Sustainability at ofi, stated that the partnership is “scaling up regenerative practices like agroforestry and biochar in Ecuador aimed at cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and helping to secure the future supply of cocoa.”
Ángel Sandoval, Undersecretary for Climate Change at Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, offered a different framing of the underlying dynamic, telling EFE: “People do not deforest for pleasure, it is out of necessity — the best thing we can do is to give them alternatives.” Mónica Andrade, Head of the UNDP Environment and Energy Area in Ecuador, attributed the program’s progress to “inter-institutional cooperation” and a “shared vision,” according to the same EFE report. FAO stated it will continue supporting Ecuador in building a model of sustainable rural development for cocoa, coffee and other agroforestry crops.
