Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate
Training and transparency
For many years we have been training farmers in better farming practices such as weeding, pruning, reducing losses from pests and disease and establishing good fermentation and drying processes to nurture the inherent flavors of the cocoa beans. Cargill's belief is that training farmers successfully is key to building a sustainable supply chain as well as helping increase farmers' incomes and supporting the future growth of cocoa farming. In addition, such training also strengthens the governance of cooperatives and farmers' organization, and helps build partnerships between these organizations and their communities.
In 2007 we joined forces with UTZ Certified and other stakeholders to develop a sustainable cocoa program for certification.
Having our own people working closely with the farmers and their cooperatives allows us to improve the quality at the beginning of the supply chain. Quick payments and transparency of our buying prices to farmers are part of our standard procedures to help our suppliers maximize their incomes.
By the end of 2010, Cargill had 25,000 farmers in various training programs in Côte d'Ivoire.
Training program
The Farmer Field Schools cover farming skills as well as broader social issues:
- agricultural practices, including handling cocoa pods, harvesting, use of fertilizers, pruning and weeding
- post-harvest practices, such as fermentation and drying of cocoa beans
- preventing diseases – controlling black pod and pest
- farm renewal, such as tree density, dealing with aging trees
- social matters including raising awareness of HIV, responsible labour practices and the importance of children's education