SUSTAINABLE COCOA SOURCING
to ensure a sustainable
to procrastinate about addressing them. Success will rely on collaboration and shared responsibility across the entire cocoa value chain. Suzanne Callander reports.
T 14
he World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) concluded its largest-ever Partnership Meeting – which was held in São Paulo, Brazil in March – by underscoring the need for radical
collaboration across the cocoa sector. Bringing together around 500 global leaders and intensifying regulatory pressures, the event focused on strengthening resilience and enabling sustainable growth through research and disease management. Under the theme ‘Our Future: Resilience Through Sustainability,’ the two-day summit brought together representatives from governments, cocoa-growing communities, companies, civil society and academia. as climate change and disease have shifted the need for a sustainable cocoa sector from being a moral imperative to a matter of survival, as the sector faces unprecedented pressure to deliver at speed and scale. “Crisis leads to innovation but it can also accelerate collaboration,” said Chris Vincent, President of the World Cocoa Foundation. “As the cocoa sector navigates a period of uncertainty and transformation, recent challenges have demonstrated its interconnectedness. The energy and
Kennedy’s Confection April 2025
solutions emerging from the summit show that the sector is ready to collaborate to achieve resilience through sustainability, to invest in innovation and to support cocoa communities worldwide.” addressing the systemic issues in cocoa landscapes and communities requires pre-competitive collaboration,
including
with governments and farmers, to create sustainable, long-term resilience.
about how to increase productivity and enhance the resilience of their income. As the event closed, WCF and its partners issued a strong call for shared responsibility and action across the cocoa value chain. “Resilience is not just about surviving disruption. It is about building a system in which farmers, companies and communities can thrive,” said Chris. “The conversations and commitments made at this Partnership Meeting will shape the of sustainability in the sector.”
A collaborative approach
The event also explored how data-driven forecasting,
disease surveillance and
biodiversity – might support adaptation and create an entrepreneurial spirit. The importance of data being shared equally among origin and consuming countries was underlined, with the goal of enabling
“While progress has been made to address the challenges facing cocoa farmers on a daily basis – low incomes, price volatility, and climate change – we believe that systemic change requires a new, collaborative approach which is why we are introducing Shared Impact, an innovative model designed to strengthen sustainable cocoa supply chains through pre-competitive collaboration and says Marina El-Hasni, Senior Sustainable Sourcing Manager at Fairtrade. The Fairtrade Minimum Price already while Fairtrade Premium – an additional sum earned on every Fairtrade sale – allows cooperatives to invest in their businesses,
KennedysConfection.com
Collaboration is key future for cocoa
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
