Exclusive: Chocoa tackles major cocoa sector challenges head on
Pam Thornton is among opening speakers at Chocoa, pic: Neill Barston
Major challenges in the global cocoa sector were addressed during the opening day of the Amsterdam Sustainable Cocoa Conference, including environmental impact, farmer pay and greater urgency for collective action, writes Neill Barston.
The timing of the Chocoa event comes at a momentous juncture for the sector, with cocoa prices experiencing fresh highs of around $12,000 a tonne in recent weeks, as businesses grapple with an ongoing deficit of supplies.
Against this backdrop, the opening session posed the question ‘Are we ready for a new era’ and invited experts from across the industry to examine how the core tests befalling the sector might be approached.
The event, which concludes on 9 February, also features an array of chocolatiers from around the world, and an accompanying exhibition of equipment and systems for the confectionery sector.
For her part, Pam Thornton, of Nightingale Investment Management, reflected on elevated prices impacting on West Africa in particular, as the ongoing supply deficit continues to pose a test for stable sourcing patterns for global confectionery, chocolate and snacks businesses.
As the sector expert noted, one of the most significant issues that there was especially poor land tenure within the region – particularly within the Ivory Coast, that did not assist with providing long-term stability within the nation’s agricultural sector, though she observed that conditions in neighbouring Ghana were comparatively better by contrast.
Speaking on some of the biggest issues affecting West Africa, she said: “Mining has been a very big problem in Ghana, but it is also a growing issue in Ivory Coast, along with gold and minerals including nickel, that are invading on cocoa.
However, Ivory Coast is actually almost unrecognisable now for the amount of economic development that has been happening in recent years,” noted the specialist who said that there was evidence of diversification of crops, with rubber and cashew nuts now being farmed in the country.
As regional observers have noted, around two third’s of the country’s economy (which grew a total of 6% two years ago, which slowed a little in the past two years), has revolved around the wider agricultural market.
Another trend that she had noted was that social mobility was growing in the region – fuelled by the development of locally-built motorbikes, that had become highly sought after by younger generations. For those living in remote locations, she explained this could potentially prove significant in attracting younger generations into taking on farming operations of older family members.
“You would never previously see bikes in Ivory Coast, but the amount of vehicles that are now out there has transformed rural life,” she added on a note of positivity that offered hope for the sector’s future in getting cocoa to market from often especially inaccessible areas.
However, she noted an ongoing trend that was that ‘most beans from the region end up in low quality chocolate’ with a gap in farmers’ knowledge over judging the overall quality of crops, and buyers’ also not placing sufficient scrutiny on the crop characteristics due to the mass market products that the beans are largely destined for.
Deforestation
Notably, the issue of deforestation linked to the sector was brought to the fore by Michiel Hendriksz from the Farmstrong Foundation, who informed the conference that ‘the issues farmers face are very different from what people think they are’, asserting that solutions for the sector were often not sufficiently targeted.
He asserted that the rate of forest-loss within many areas that will be covered by the upcoming EUDR legislation was particularly troubling, and as Confectionery Production has previously covered, Ghana and Ivory Coast have lost a significant volume (around two thirds) of their prime forested areas over the past five decades. This has included the action of the cocoa sector, along with illegal gold mining, and other sector use of forested areas.
He explained that there had been an especially notable negative impact from the timber trade in Ivory Coast, as well as nickel ore.
“A lot of the legal timber trade that is happening, is also being done with ‘illegal’ concessions,” he asserted regarding the strain being placed on valuable environmental resources in the region.
He believed that a popular misconception had emerged that deforestation had been attributed largely to cocoa farmers, and instead this was more readily linked to other actors responsible for criminal activity in the region.
For his part, Anthony Mangnall (pictured above, centre), an advisor for the ICE traceability team and former UK Member of Parliament for Totness in Devon, took part in the panel, explaining that the sector also had a particular challenging in meeting the tests of new major regulations including EUDR deforestation. While he welcomed the introduction of such mandatory codes, he noted that their implementation would pose obstacles.
He said: “We have a raft of regulations that are coming before us, and all of it is pointing to the same thing, which is traceability. We can help make sure that there are systems in place that allow for accountability, and that’s the push. From the point of ICE, we are not reinforcers, nor are we instigators of these regulations, but what we are trying to do is to support industry.
Collaboration is essential within supply chains, throughout every country within the supply chains, from farmers and producers, through to consumers,” he noted, stating that enabling people to freely trade their commodities in a fair and transparent manner, that does not end up costing them more, was of central importance, which described as ‘an enormous challenge.”
Generational trends
Meanwhile, Julien Simonis, representing Cacao of Excellence, made an assessment of current market trends, noting that movement in the market in terms of buying habits was largely being driven by younger generations.
“Around 70% of gen Z consumers would prefer to buy sustainable products’ he explained, noting that it was that very demographic that had demonstrated heightened awareness of social and environmental issues.
He also added that this extended to the quality of product ranges, including ranges within the confectionery sector, with a growing number of younger people willing to pay more for products that align with their personal values.
Finally, the last panellist in the morning feature was Rodney Nikkels, director of Amsterdam-based confectionery business, Chocolatemakers.
As he explained, he became a chocolate maker ‘by accident’ having previously enjoyed a career in tropical agriculture in Latin America, as well as cacao, which led him to eventually ‘start making chocolate in a different way’ targeting the bean-to-bar market, sourcing as sustainably as they possibly can.
The biggest concerns have not changed, and that is the position of farmers and their income in producing countries, noting that studies have shown that they are still living on average incomes of $1.2-2 a day, equating to a situation of extreme poverty, which has to be reversed.
It is this persisting situation that he said had contributed to the business continuing to do its bit in sourcing as ethically as it is able to and advocating for supporting farmers within the Western Africa.
As he explained, its approach has been to pay a premium for cocoa, though he conceded that the business had not as yet been able to enable sourcing from Ghana and Ivory Coast due to concerns over sustainability.
He said the issue of payment for agricultural communities, and addressing the ongoing level of deforestation experienced by producing nations remained a significantly pressing priority.
The morning session of the event was concluded by an examination of how the retail sector is engaging with the topic of sustainability.
This included Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt, of Ekoplaza, who observed in her reflections that while there had been overall progress on some aspects of sustainability, retailers in the broader market had in some instances been slow to engage with consumer trends.
“Sustainable produce should not been seen as a marketing tool, as this is not going to work in the long term, so what sets Ekoplaza apart from other retailers, it has sustainability in its DNA, and it knows how to work with the demands of consumers.”
Ready for change?
The afternoon session of the conference delivered a notable highlight as the discussion turned to a subject area under the banner of whether companies were read to work together on sustainability.
Among the panel were Jonas Mva Mva, of IDH Cameroon, Peter Koegler, the vice president of the World Cocoa Foundation and Alan Kroeger, Satelligence, the sustainability mapping organisation.
They were joined by Cedric van Cutsem, of Mondelez International, the senior director of the company’s Cocoa Life programme, designed to assist cocoa growing communities, including those within Ghana and Ivory Coast.
As he noted, he believed that the title question of the session should have been ‘is the wider sector ready to collaborate’ as it was only when all actors in the supply chain finally work together, would full progress on sustainability be maximised.
He said: “Joint action has been critical for Mondelez, which is something that we have been advocating for. For our Cocoa Life programme we invested a total of $1 billion dollars between 2012-2030 to help make cocoa sourcing more sustainable, focusing on three areas, creating more profitable farms, lifting cocoa communities, and protecting and restoring forests.
“2025 is quite an important year for us as we have a big milestone year for us as we have two goals coming to life – our promise to have all cocoa sourced through the Cocoa Life scheme, as well as all communities that we work with in West Africa to be included within child labour CLMRS systems, and I believe we’re on track for that, but there’s still pressure, adding that he was proud of the scale of its achievements, while noting there was still much collaborative work to achieve.
As he noted, one of its largest tests came in the form of ensuring that its data collection remains sufficiently robust that it can be independently verified as conforming to standards that it has laid down, and will also be further enhanced by EUDR legislation and parallel laws on corporate due diligence that are designed to offer enhanced protections for supply chain communities.
- The sustainable cocoa conference continues, and the event concludes on 9 February- see the next edition of Confectionery Production for extended coverage…
