Wanted: valorization options from cacoa production to supplement small farmers income

Cargill brings food, agricultural, financial and industrial products to people who need them all around the world. Today, we apply that expertise to serve customers and communities in 70 countries or regions. And since we mostly work business to business, we’re not a household name. We have 155,000 employees working every day to nourish the world in a safe, responsible, sustainable way.  Side stream valorization and reducing waste are sustainability priorities.

One of the sectors Cargill operates in is that of cocoa and chocolate production, which starts with cocoa pod harvesting. Most commonly, the bean and bean shell are exported to the chocolate manufacturing sites (as they are difficult to separate without breaking the bean), and the fibrous pod husk and part of the pulp remain at the farm to compost. Several valorization research projects have focused on the shell, but significantly less on the husk and pulp, especially for solutions that could be implemented at the origins, primarily West Africa - Ghana, Ivory coast, Cameroon - for the purposes of this challenge.  Fibrous plants such as cotton and hemp have been used to manufacture textiles and clothing for millenia, but this has not been the case for cocoa pods. Husks are fiber rich. The question is whether this fiber can be converted to threads and textiles, just like cotton, hemp and other materials are.

Cocoa production in West Africa is primarily done by small holder farmers, who could benefit from low investment sidestream valorization options from cocoa production in order to supplement their income. Of particular interest are smallholder, female entrepreneurs/farmers, already engaged in the space of clothing, textile and fashion space. 

The following categories of food waste are generated: 

• Husk of the chocolate bean
• Pulp of the chocolate bean

Chocolate and cocoa are beloved products made from cacao beans, the seed of the cacao fruit (cacao pod), which grows in tropical regions. The cacao bean, however, only constitutes about 20% of the pod with the rest consisting of the bean shell (a thin, peanut-skin like membrane around the beans), the mucilage/pulp (fruit) and the pod husk (the fibrous “peel” of the pod). We are looking for methods that could render the fibers found in cacao side streams usable in textiles/apparel, similar to other agricultural cloths such as cotton or hemp.  

What we are looking for:

• Ideas/solutions in clothing/textile/accessory/fashion category.
• Methods that can convert cacao side streams into usable cloths/textiles.
• Side streams to be valorized must already be available at the farm level (farm to bean).

Does your company have a solution? Then we would like to get in touch with you!

What we are not looking for:

• Solutions utilizing side-streams from industrial chocolate manufacturing (bean to bar). 
• Solutions that require large capital investments (e.g. biotech installations etc)
• Solutions that result in modification of the cocoa bean/chocolate itself.

What we offer:

• Opportunity to start a pilot collaboration, with 100K-200K EUR funding.  
• Opportunity to get follow up contract(s) and/or structural collaboration when the pilot is successful

Conditions for Participation:

• Solutions need to have a low barrier of entry (capital/equipment).
• Solutions focused at supplementing the income of female entrepreneurs/farmers.
• Solutions to be primarily rolled out in West Africa  (Cameroon, Ivory coast, Ghana).

How does it work?

• Send in a short and concise pitch deck with your solution;
• As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch;
• Your pitch is only visible to Cargill;
• After the deadline, Cargill will assess all pitches individually and invite the companies with the most interesting solutions for a 1:1 conversation to get to know each other and look for opportunities to collaborate.

Pitch Format

• Send in a short and concise pitch deck of your solution (max 4 pages / 12 slides) with description of the following two parts: 
  • A description of your product or solution:
    Give a short description of your product or solution, as detailed and visual as possible. In which phase is the solution?
  • A description of your company & team;
    How and when was your company founded? In which phase are you? How many people? In which market are you active? Also a short description of the (managing) team.
• The pitch deck may be submitted in free form (presentation, slide deck, letter form), but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4 - max 30MB). Videos, example websites, etc. can be included as a link.

Timeline

• December 7 at 17.00 CET: Deadline challenge
• December 8 – December 20: Review period 
• January 2024: 1:1 conversations
• Q1/Q2 2024 onwards: Discuss and start collaboration

Terms & Conditions

• Participation is open for startups, scale-ups, SMEs, grown-ups, innovators and scientists with an innovative product and/or technology.
• You will remain the owner of your intellectual rights, concept or solution in your pitch, until you agree otherwise.
• We strongly advise you to document everything you share with others and mention that information provided is confidential and intellectual property rights remain with you/ your company until agreed otherwise.
• Be aware of the fact that your pitch (and concepts and ideas in it) will be viewed and be shared with (internal) stakeholders. Keep IP sensitive unique (technical) details out of your pitch, keep it a secret that you can share later.
• Download Terms & Conditions