Big Interview Another issue is that women leaders are a promising, yet
often forgotten, force of change – especially when addressing critical social challenges such as child protection. At Cargill, we believe that advancing women’s empowerment advances the cocoa sector at large. We’re therefore working to make gender equality the norm throughout the cocoa chain and have signed up to UNWEP to advance those goals. Additionally, climate change is serious threat to nature,
requiring us to rapidly scale regenerative agriculture-based practices such as agroforestry. Cocoa fares well in the shade and the other trees can functions as a carbon sink that sequesters carbon while also adding to farmers’ incomes through fruit and timber sales. Since 2017, we have provided more than 2,6 million shade trees.
Q: The cocoa and chocolate industry has been under scrutiny for issues like deforestation and child labour. How does your team address these challenges, and what strategies are in place to mitigate the environmental and social impact of your operations? Issues such as child labour, gender inequality, deforestation and farmer poverty are highly interconnected, requiring a systemic approach across the cocoa sector and sector actors. We’ve made significant gains, especially as we’ve learned to look beyond symptoms and build programs that systemically address the root causes of some of the biggest sustainable development challenges facing the cocoa sector and the world. For example, Cargill is committed to transforming it’s
supply chains globally to be deforestation-free by 2030, but we recognize that forest protection is a complex challenge that requires a multi-faceted approach. Tools like GPS polygon mapping and satellite imagery help us assess where deforestation-related risks are most significant, but it’s also
“As we look to the future, we will
keep finding new ways to advance the relationships, models, and platforms we have built with
our partners to make a positive impact on a much larger scale”
important to understand why farmers might encroach on forest lands. Based on our work in cocoa-growing communities, we have identified multiple underlying motivations – thus to be successful, we must adopt a holistic approach to forest protection. Reasons for deforestation may include a lack of access to resources and tools to optimize the productivity of existing farmland or a lack of clarity on land rights. Through partnerships, we are working to address these issues, protect forests and help farmers thrive. Similarly, our commitment to respecting human rights is
fundamental to our purpose. That’s why we work with governments, peers, customers, NGOs, farmers, families and others to make an impact on child labour. Today, more than 93,000 farming households have been monitored through Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS), which is an industry-recognized system we co-developed with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). It uses networks of local coaches and monitoring agents to raise awareness about the impact of child labour, identify incidents and implement prevention and remediation programs.
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