Dietmar Stoian

Dietmar has been working on value chain R&D in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe for more than 25 years. Trained as a forest scientist (MSc) and forest economist (PhD) at the University of Freiburg, Germany, his approaches span natural and social sciences and public and private partnerships to enhance the benefits from restoration and sustainable land management for smallholders and other land users. He is passionate about supporting smallholders in developing sustainable land use systems, becoming organized into small and medium enterprises, and successfully positioning them in value chains for agroforestry and forest products. His work on cocoa started in the early 2000s with several missions to Latin American countries which sought technical assistance for revitalizing their cocoa sectors. In the mid-2010s, he extended his cocoa work to Africa with assessments on fair trade, inclusive business models, and responsible finance in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. As early as 1970, he detected his love for chocolate and has been an avid chocolate eater since.