Big Interview
We’ve leveraged technological innovations throughout the past decade to help us bring greater transparency and traceability to our cocoa supply. Advances like GPS polygon mapping, AI-aided satellite monitoring, barcode tracking, digital data collection and more have helped us drive change across the entire cocoa supply chain. Many of these innovations offer huge benefits to our farmers and customers, such as the introduction of mobile banking, which provides a safe and secure way to receive payments. Others, like our new partnership with Satelligence, give us the real-time data we need to protect, regenerate and restore essential landscapes.
Q: Long-term sustainability initiatives often require adaptation and flexibility. In what ways has the Cocoa Promise adapted to unexpected challenges or new insights in order to remain effective and relevant throughout its 10-year journey? Long-term sustainability goals absolutely require flexibility and adaptation. Cargill’s Cocoa Promise has evolved to reflect our deepening understanding about the issues facing cocoa growing regions and how best to support the communities there. As a result, we are investing in models that address interconnected issues and lead to greater prosperity for cocoa farmers and their communities, such as designing and implementing programs that keep cocoa communities’ infrastructure strong, empower women entrepreneurs, broaden access to education and generate more opportunities. A specific example of disruption that we can all relate to
can be found in the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic emerged, we adopted response plans to quickly deploy robust safety protocols worldwide. In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, we delivered information on COVID-19 to cocoa farmers through a mobile app and distributed soap, hand towels and hygiene kits to thousands of cocoa farmers. We also launched a US$15
million employee disaster relief fund to help meet the immediate needs of all Cargill’s employees during the pandemic.
Q: As you celebrate this significant milestone, could you outline any special events or initiatives that are planned to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Cocoa Promise? Additionally, how do you envision the initiative evolving over the next decade to continue fostering positive change? We are planning a series of celebrations for the partnerships that have enabled us to get to where we are today. All of the celebration materials are designed with that aspect in mind – that this is as much an anniversary to celebrate for our partners and farmers as it is for us. Each origin country is marketing the occasion in their
preferred way, starting with Indonesia and followed by West- African countries between now and the end of the calendar year. In Indonesia we will unveil our largest and most innovative Cocoa Development Center in the world. This multi-million-dollar investment is a tangible sign that Cargill believes in Indonesia as the engine for cocoa and chocolate innovation on a global scale. 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. Our focus will continue to be on investing in technology to improve transparency and traceability, scaling up holistic solutions by investing in models that address interconnected issues, strengthening trust, exploring more collaborative initiatives with a wide range of organizations and experts, and partnering with cocoa farmers and cooperatives so that they can build resilient farming businesses, take care of their families and protect natural resources.
Kennedy’s Confection October 2023 21
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