18 ■ COCOA WORLD
C&CI
March 2010
SWITZERLAND
WEST AFRICA
WCF launches Cocoa Livelihoods
Barry Callebaut confirms programme in Côte d'Ivoire
strong demand for
certified cocoa
At a ceremony held in Abidjan in late January, the World Cocoa
Foundation (WCF) announced the launch of the Cocoa Livelihoods
Programme (CLP) in Côte d'Ivoire. The programme, first announced in
Barry Callebaut, the well known February 2009, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 14
manufacturer of cocoa and choco- chocolate companies, is expected to significantly improve the liveli-
late, says it is experiencing a marked hoods of 75,000 cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire by 2014.
increase in demand for certified "Cocoa is a vital component of our economy and a major part of the
cocoa and chocolate. Strong con- daily lives of so many people in Côte d'Ivoire. This programme is a
sumer demand for ‘responsibly (sus-
Hans Vriens: demand for
wonderful opportunity for us to work with the private sector, the Bill &
tainably) produced chocolate’ lies at
certified cocoa is on the
Melinda Gates Foundation, our colleagues in other cocoa-producing
increase
the heart of this growth, said the countries, and the World Cocoa Foundation to improve the livelihoods
company. In a statement, Barry Callebaut said it welcomed of smallholder cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire," said Gilbert Anoh
this development, given its long-standing commitment to N'guessan, President of the Coffee-Cocoa Sector Management
developing a more sustainable cocoa sector. Committee (CGFCC), Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.
The group expects that the sales of certified products will The work in Côte d'Ivoire is part of a larger five-country programme
continue to grow significantly in 2010. targeting 200,000 cocoa-growing households across Côte d'Ivoire,
Barry Callebaut sources and supplies more than 100 certi- Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia.
fied cocoa and chocolate products via the well known certifi- Activities in Côte d'Ivoire will focus on professionalizing farmer
cation programmes such as Fairtrade, Organic/Fairtrade, UTZ organisations, improving production and quality at farm level, equipping
Certified and Rainforest Alliance. The group also further offers farmers with business skills, promoting diversification of income, and
‘Fair for Life’ certified products through its subsidiary Biolands. improving access to inputs and support services. The programme will
Hans Vriens, Chief Innovation Officer at Barry Callebaut, be active in seven departments: Dalo, Divo, Issia, Abengourou, San
said: "While demand for organic certified chocolate has been Pedro, Soubre and Duekoue.
growing steadily over the past 10 years, we have seen a jump
Gilbert Anoh N'guessan:
of more than 50 per cent in demand for Fairtrade certified
Cocoa Livelihoods
products in 2009 and an increase of 12 per cent in the volume
programme is a wonderful
of certified products overall. These growth rates are signifi-
opportunity to work with
the private sector to
cantly ahead of chocolate market growth rates." benefit farmers
WEST AFRICA
Reform in Côte D’Ivoire "fundamental"
World Bank President Robert Zoellick has told government minis-
INDONESIA
ters in Côte d’Ivoire that reform of the cocoa sector in the country –
which is the world's largest producer – is a "fundamental issue." He
Japanese chemical complaint rejected
said the World Bank was working with the minister of economy and The Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture has rejected accusations
finance and the minister of planning to help bring about major from the authorities in Japan that cocoa exported to Japan from
reforms to a sector blighted by poor organisation since liberalisa- Indonesia contained dangerous levels of the chemical com-
tion in 1999-2000. pound 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D).
"The taxes have been very high on farmers and this has led to In 2009, Japan lodged a complaint against Indonesia, claim-
underinvestment in new plants and has lowered some of the quali- ing that the level of 2,4-D was more than 0.01 ppm, which is
ty of production," he said while touring a new research and devel- dangerous for health.
opment centre opened by Nestlé SA in Abidjan, a facility at which However, Indonesia’s Director General for Plantations,
Néstle is developing new disease-resistant varieties of cocoa. Achmad Manggabarani said that Indonesia had now completed
According to a Dow Jones report, Zoellick said the cocoa sector its own tests on the cocoa and said the results showed that the
in Ghana, with its central state organisation, was a model that the 2,4-D content of the cocoa was "very small" and "was not at dan-
authorities in Côte d’Ivoire should consider. gerous level." He said the ministry would deliver the result to the
Dow Jones said a reform committee is thought to have pro- Japanese government "soon."
posed the introduction of a forward-selling system to President "Although our cocoa exports to Japan are small we must clear
Laurent Gbagbo, but the details of such a plan have yet to be this issue, this is about the image of our products. We must
decided. Any reform is likely only after long-delayed presidential manage the good image at the international market," he said.
elections are held.
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