incomes, which is why we take a holistic Income Accelerator Program, co-developed with industry partners, has reached 9,000+ farming households, providing direct cash incentives to support farm investments and “Additionally,
our Veliche AWALE
entrepreneurship program has provided 2,600 women and youth in Côte d’Ivoire with business training,
helping them
establish alternative income sources beyond cocoa. We believe that empowering women in cocoa-growing communities is one of the most effective ways to combat child labour and strengthen family incomes.” Another critical component of Cargill’s work is ensuring access to education and child protection. Through its partnership with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), it has implemented the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), covering 101,100 cocoa farmers. Additionally, it has invested in community education, helping to build or renovate six schools and 200 classrooms in Ghana. Aedo highlights that transparency needs to be at the core of any approach. “We leverage digital traceability tools to provide real-time data on sustainability progress, helping customers and consumers make informed choices about the chocolate they enjoy. “Through GPS polygon mapping technology, we now have 92% of farmers in our direct supply chain mapped, allowing us to verify cocoa sources and prevent deforestation. This data-driven approach strengthens accountability and supports compliance with emerging regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).”
Rebalancing profit
communities by 2030,” continues Aedo. Through its Cargill Cocoa Promise – which was launched in 2012 – the company has strengthened its approach to sustainability by integrating evidence-based solutions, transparency, and scalable programs tailored to the needs of cocoa-growing communities. Its focus being on climate, land & water, and people, ensuring that sustainability efforts create meaningful economic and environmental impact.
“Ensuring a more sustainable cocoa supply chain also means improving the livelihoods of the 400,000+ farmers in our sourcing network,” adds Aedo. “Cocoa farming families often struggle with low
KennedysConfection.com
Highlighting its commitment to a more sustainable and ethical cocoa supply chain, Youri Dumont,
Business Unit Director,
Chocolate at Puratos, pointed to its third- party audited Cacao-Trace cocoa programme. “This builds on, but is far wider-reaching and impactful than, general industry initiatives, he claims. “A big part of sustainability and ethical sourcing is tackling the challenge share to give back to the cocoa community.” Youri went on to explain how the initiative addresses this problem by working closely with cocoa farmers and community members whom it hires and trains extensively to master the fermentation process to produce high-quality cocoa. Through Cacao-Trace, it
is able to produce a higher quality product which can produce greater revenue for farmers and better living conditions for cocoa farming communities.
“Cocoa farmer poverty remains a highlights the real need for programmes like Cacao-Trace,” continues Youri. “For example, we share the additional value created by our chocolate through a Quality annually, and a Chocolate Bonus, meaning that for every kilogram of chocolate sold, 10 euro cents go back to cocoa farmers. In 2023, we increased our Chocolate Bonus to 2.4 million euros, and 100% of this was sent to the farmers. to improve stability with Cacao-Trace farming communities too. Since the programme began, we have invested in better education and health for Cacao-Trace farming communities – building schools, maternity units and water infrastructures to enable access to drinking water for more people, as well as providing school kits, among many other initiatives. Transparency is at the heart of Cacao-Trace, by third-parties and communicated through regular farm visits and annual sustainability reports. While we are proud to have made important progress, collectively and as an industry, there is still more work to be done to ensure a sustainable and ethical cocoa supply chain,” he concludes.
Moving forward together
The conversations and commitments shared at the WCF Partnership Meeting made it clear that the cocoa sector needs to work the message from across industry highlights the importance of collaboration to do this. The message is clear and consistent: systemic, sustainable change can only be achieved when responsibility is shared across the entire value chain. No single actor will be able to solve the challenges of farmer poverty, child labour, deforestation, or climate disruption alone. Building a more ethical and sustainable cocoa sector requires the development of long-term partnerships, transparency, and an industry-wide commitment to fairer value distribution and greater accountability. The good news is that a better future for cocoa farming communities is possible – but it will take continued collaboration, innovation, and shared impact to turn that possibility into reality.
Kennedy’s Confection April 2025 19
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