Rainforest Alliance highlights progress and challenges in 2024 certification report 

GLOBAL – The Rainforest Alliance has released its 2024 annual progress report, detailing advancements and ongoing challenges in sustainable agriculture, particularly within the cocoa sector.  

The non-profit organisation works with approximately eight million farmers globally and supports regenerative farming practices while aiming to strengthen rural communities. 

The report emphasises the complex global landscape in which the alliance operates, including extensive deforestation, climate change, and geopolitical instability. These conditions have directly impacted certified cocoa production in 2024, despite an increase in market demand for certified products. 

According to the accompanying cocoa sector certification data, certified cocoa production declined in Africa and the Pacific regions, largely due to extreme weather events and crop diseases. West African nations Ghana and Ivory Coast were especially affected, grappling with diseases like the swollen shoot virus and erratic climate conditions. 

In 2024, certified cocoa output from Ivory Coast reached 1.496 million tonnes, while Ghana contributed 187,000 tonnes under Rainforest Alliance certification standards. Although production dipped, certified sales volumes grew, driven by increased buyer interest in sustainable cocoa. 

In response to feedback from farmers and companies, the Rainforest Alliance conducted a review of its certification requirements, leading to the release of Version 1.4 of its Sustainable Agriculture Standard. 

 The updated standard, set to take effect in October 2025, introduces new certification solutions and seals for three critical impact areas: regenerative agriculture, climate, and livelihoods. 

The organisation’s 2024 work also included efforts to help farmers access new markets and build partnerships with businesses focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. 

CEO Santiago Gowland noted the urgency of transitioning to more sustainable agriculture: “Tropical forests are still falling at an alarming rate—10 football fields a minute—and the climate crisis is accelerating… Now is the time to transition to a new model of agriculture.” 

The Rainforest Alliance now manages 83 active landscape and community programs covering 25 million hectares across five critical ecological regions.  

In 2024, 1.3 million people benefited directly from these initiatives. Small and medium-sized farming and forestry businesses involved in the programs generated US$34 million in sales revenue. Since 2003, the alliance has invested US$394 million into these efforts. 

Certified farms with the Rainforest Alliance seal now operate in 155 countries. Of these, 99% are smallholder-run, with more than 3.1 million smallholder farmers currently supported. 

Other milestones in 2024 include the arrival of Europe’s first EUDR-ready coffee shipment verified by the alliance and a 14% increase in certified farms tracking pest populations compared to 2021.  

In Ghana’s Sui River landscape, 65% of surveyed farmers invested in climate adaptation, planting over 583,000 seedlings and registering 54,000 trees. 

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