Cargill commits to sustainable cocoa sector in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire

Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate have reiterated their commitment to work closely with COCOBOD and other stakeholders to ensure a long term and sustainable impact for farmers and the cocoa sector.

A statement from Cargill and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said the company reiterated its support for the shared ambition of both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to improve cocoa farmers’ income and ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector.

It also would work with stakeholders to achieve fundamental positive changes in the sector.

The governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire announced the introduction of a set floor price for cocoa exports.

The statement said: “At Cargill, we share the ambition of the governments of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to improve cocoa farmers' income and ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector.

“We applaud the willingness of both governments to set a minimum floor price for cocoa beans and affirm our commitment to do more to ensure that this measure leads to sustainable increases in farmers' incomes,” the company said.

“We look forward to working closely with the COCOBOD and Conseil Café Cacao to achieve fundamental positive changes in the cocoa sector,” it added.

As part of the 'Cargill Cocoa Promise,' we are helping farmers become true entrepreneurs, learning to maximize their profitability, managing their operations like businesses and earning a decent income.

We work with governments, a number of partners, as well as farmers and farmers' organizations, to increase their productivity, profitability and resilience.

We continue to expand and deepen our programs so that farmers have the know-how and tools they need to act as a business leader and to plan for the long-term sustainability of the sector.

Our vision is for a thriving cocoa sector for the benefit of future generations: a system that will enable cocoa farmers and communities to flourish, while ensuring long-term commercial success” the statement added.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire last month announced plans to set a minimum price to be paid by global buyers of cocoa from these two countries beginning the 2020/2021 cocoa season.

The pricing initiative is meant to give value to cocoa farmers and maximize the countries’ benefit from their over 60 per cent share of the global supply market.