Cargill receives award for supporting cocoa farmers

Cargill’s work to improve livelihoods for cocoa farmers and their families in Africa, Asia and South America has earned it the U.S. Chamber Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) 2010 International Community Service award. The award coincides with 21 cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire, with over 11,000 farmer members, achieving independent sustainable cocoa certification as a result of Cargill’s Farmer Field Schools programme. All 21 farmer cooperatives have received certification under UTZ Certified sustainable cocoa programme after successfully completing 10 months of intensive training conducted through a network of 300 Cargill Farmer Field Schools in Côte d'Ivoire. The schools help small-scale farmers improve agricultural, environmental and social practices in cocoa production and to achieve UTZ Certification. The auditing is executed by independent certification bodies to ensure the highest level of credibility. As a result of training and certification, farmers are benefitting from an increase in their incomes from higher yields and improved crop quality. More than 10,000 tonnes of cocoa beans will be available by the end of this year to be used in sustainably certified, high quality chocolate and cocoa products. Cargill expects a total 60 cooperatives to be certified and the volume of cocoa beans to triple by the end of 2011 as training expands in Côte d’Ivoire and other cocoa producing countries in West Africa and Asia.