Few studies have examined the implementation and evolution development of a contract as a learning process for the actors involved. Individual farmers in São Tomé were obliged to organize themselves into a collective in response to a chocolate manufacturer’s innovative proposal of an organic cocoa, fair trade contract. This relational construction between actors is a basis and guarantee of the contract’s durability. The authors analyze how the relationship between the manufacturer and the farmers evolved, the technical and organizational impact on the farmers, and the farmers’ future perspectives. The aim is to further understanding of whether the establishment of such a collective cocoa contract may be a means of achieving autonomy. In other words, the authors explore whether it presents an answer to the question of producer emancipation.