Trinidad and Tobago cocoa company explores AI to aid Caribbean farmers amid supply disruptions

The Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company (TTFCC) is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to support cocoa farmers across the Caribbean, aiming to mitigate the impact of global supply disruptions. These disruptions are largely driven by extreme weather events and crop diseases affecting major producing nations.

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Trinidad and Tobago has decades of research on cocoa, on pests and diseases, on growing yields, on varieties. What we want to do is move from just being in a publication on a piece of paper and getting it in the hands of farmers.

Ashley Parasram, Founder and Director of TTFCC, explained that the company is collaborating with two AI firms to create a model that translates extensive local cocoa research into practical tools for farmers. This research covers pests, diseases, production techniques, and crop varieties, information that is often inaccessible to farmers.

"Trinidad and Tobago has decades of research on cocoa, on pests and diseases, on growing yields, on varieties. What we want to do is move from just being in a publication on a piece of paper and getting it in the hands of farmers," Parasram stated at the Climate Smart Summit in Bridgetown. The goal is to empower farmers with better risk management strategies, improved yields, and the ability to justify investment requests to banks and funders.

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What you’re going to find is a system that really would empower farmers to be able to understand better how they can reduce the risk, how they can get better yields, and also how they can justify investment to banks and to funders to support more agricultural activity.

Parasram believes this AI-driven model has the potential to be applied in other Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Guyana. He emphasized that regional resilience hinges on enhanced access to information, robust data management, and better preparedness. The project, funded by grants, comes at a critical time for the global cocoa industry, highlighting the need for innovative solutions to ensure the sustainability of agriculture in the region.

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Resilience comes with how we look at information, how we manage that information, how prepared we can be. I think that that is going to be something that will bring a lot of Caribbean countries and I hope Central and South American countries, especially with cocoa, have a lot of qualities into the future.