Cargill initiative wins FiE 2015 Best Sustainability Innovation Award

Provided in partnership with the Ivorian bank SIB and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the initiative provides affordable loans for trucks for cocoa farmer cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire. The funding is available to graduates of the Cargill Coop Academy, a dedicated educational program for managers of cocoa farmer cooperatives. The main benefit is that cocoa farmers can transport their cocoa beans to market more easily and reliably. 43 cooperatives are participating in the initiative and 78 new trucks have been leased in the first year alone.

Cooperatives play an important role in empowering farmers and strengthening communities, as well as fulfilling important social roles such as operating school transport or an ambulance service. In Côte d’Ivoire, Cargill is working with over 80,000 farmers in 100 partner cooperatives. The FiE Awards judging panel explained “environmental strategies alone are no longer exceptional but the norm. Actions that extend beyond the environmental and incorporate social, cultural and economic initiatives embody the true scope of sustainability.”