Supporting cocoa farmers

The Hershey Company has announced a new three-year programme expanding its cocoa farmer training and community initiatives in Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producing country. In partnership with Cargill, Hershey Learn to Grow Ivory Coast will encompass seven farmer co-operatives and will include investments in educational infrastructure and teacher housing.

Through Hershey Learn to Grow Ivory Coast, 10,000 cocoa farmers will be trained in agricultural and social practices that are independently audited and certified against the UTZ Certified standard. By doing so, those farmers will benefit by receiving higher premium payments for their cocoa. Farmers will also realize long-term improvements to their cocoa harvests by improving aging farms through good agricultural practices.

Rejuvenating cocoa farms requires long-term investments by the growers, co-operatives and cocoa companies. The Hershey Learn to Grow Ivory Coast programme will provide participating Ivory Coast cocoa farmers with a market channel for certified cocoa while they improve their farms.

Hershey is expanding its Learn to Grow farmer training model from established programmes in Ghana and Nigeria. The Ivory Coast project is being implemented with Cargill, a Hershey cocoa supplier, with an established network of farm associations in Ivory Coast where Cargill both sources and processes cocoa.

Hershey and Cargill have previously collaborated on CocoaLink, a programme that uses mobile technology to connect cocoa farmers in Ghana with information about good farming practices, labour safety and crop marketing.

“Hershey and Cargill combine shared values about community responsibility with an urgent focus on bringing better farming practices and market opportunities to Ivory Coast cocoa farmers,” says Terry O’Day, chief supply chain officer and senior vice president at The Hershey Company. “The essence of Learn to Grow is to make cocoa farming more profitable for individual farmers and build a long-term supply of high-quality cocoa for global consumers while working together to expand community services, clinics and schools in the cocoa communities.

“Learn to Grow Ivory Coast is a good example of the collaborative approach to cocoa sustainability that Hershey and Cargill have embraced through CocoaAction, our industry’s strategy for improving cocoa farms and communities in West Africa. Since women are critical to cocoa farming and cocoa communities, CocoaAction and Hershey are actively working toward gender equality and economic empowerment for women in these communities.”