Cadbury boost for producers?

Partnership approach backs cocoa farmers in sustainability drive
Our love affair with chocolate would have a pretty flaky future, if growers couldn’t make a livelihood out of the beans. That’s why a new Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, a joint initiative with the UN Development Programme, is channelling £44 million of company funding over the next ten years to boost economic, social and environmental sustainability in the industry.

Around a million cocoa farmers in Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean stand to benefit. The main focus of this effort will be Ghana, where the average production on cocoa farms has dropped to just 40% of potential yield – one of the alarming findings of research work funded by Cadbury at the Universities of Sussex and Accra. Not surprisingly, farming families are turning away from the crop. Cadbury says it aims to address their problems, both by improving productivity and by helping to bring new sources of rural income.

The Fairtrade Foundation told Green Futures that it welcomed the company’s announcement, and hoped “that Cadbury will recognise consumer demand by incorporating a Fairtrade element as this partnership programme develops”. – Julian Rollins

25 March 2008

Julian Rollins