Cargill supports sustainable cocoa in West Africa

Cargill has announced a three-year USD 5 million commitment to support sustainable cocoa in Côte d`Ivoire and Ghana. This includes a partnership with CARE to sponsor a new program of activities to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their families in Ghana and Côte d`Ivoire. The partnership with CARE will improve access to education and basic services, promote better agricultural practices and help address the worst forms of child labor in cocoa growing communities.

Cargill’s commitment also will expand its Farmer Field Schools program. This program is currently training over 10,000 farmers and will expand to support tens of thousands of more farmers over the coming years. This training is directly helping farmers increase yields, improve quality and increase their incomes, as well as enabling them to gain independent certification, such as UTZ Certified. “This commitment underlines our belief that supporting communities and training farmers is key to ensuring cocoa is produced sustainably, to increasing farmers’ incomes and to improving the livelihoods of farmers and their families in West Africa”, said Jos de Loor, managing director of Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business.

The CARE program will expand on activities already underway in 70 cocoa growing communities to reach a total of 130 communities in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Central regions of Ghana. Additionally, activities will be initiated in 10 communities in the San Pédro and Daloa regions of Côte d`Ivoire. In total, it is estimated the program will help improve educational opportunities for at least 60,000 children, as well as improving the livelihoods of cocoa growing families within these rural communities.

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