Kawá
A new model for family agriculture
Kawá is a financing ecosystem that connects cocoa smallholder farmers working in agroforestry systems to credit, combined with high-quality technical assistance and rural extension.
The initiative strengthens family farming, boosts regenerative systems that keep the forest standing, and promotes prosperity in producing regions.
The name recalls the origin of cocoa in pre-Columbian civilizations (kakawa), reinforcing the connection between culture, territory, and forest.
Structured as a Fiagro (Agribusiness Production Chains Investment Fund), Kawá operates under a blended finance model that combines private, concessional, and philanthropic capital to unlock investments at scale with positive socio-environmental impact
The challenge
addressed
85%
of producers
are outside the financial system
75%
have never received
technical assistance and rural extension
80%
of national production
is accounted for by smallholdings
Launched in the country’s two main producing regions Bahia (Atlantic Forest) and Pará (Amazon)
Reach
approximately
1,200 farming
families
benefited
Promote
access to
high-quality
technical
assistance
Monitor data
and optimize
operations
to ensure
transparency
and scalability
Ambition
Kawá was created to transform access to rural financing in the cocoa sector and to strengthen regenerative systems at scale, with a long-term vision to:
R$ 1 billion
in resources mobilized
more than 10,000
farming families benefited
expand services
credit for restoration, public financing lines,
and access to premium markets
Ecosystem of involved institutions
Concept
development
and structuring
Instituto Arapyaú
Tabôa Fortalecimento
Comunitário
Violet
MOV Investimento
Fund administration
VERT
Technical assistance and rural extension
Fundação Solidaridad (Pará)
Ciapra (Lower South of Bahia)
Polímatas (Extreme South of Bahia) in partnership with Suzano
Tabôa (Southern Coast of Bahia)
Production chain and market
AIPC – National Association of Cocoa Processing Industries