Cocoa sourcing

Cocoa is a key ingredient in our confectionery and snacking products.

We help cocoa-farming families and the environment they operate in overcome the challenges that cultivating cocoa can involve, such as child labor risks, low incomes for cocoa-farming households and the associated risk of deforestation.

In 2009, we launched the Nestlé Cocoa Plan. 

We launched the Nestlé income accelerator program in January 2022. This innovative family-centered approach is aiming to close the gap to a living income and reduce child labor risks. 
 

Our approach to sourcing cocoa

Through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan we are working with farmers, communities, and local and international organizations to develop and implement solutions to the challenges facing cocoa-farming communities.

In addition to our work with farming communities, our cocoa suppliers must comply with our Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements (pdf, 2Mb). Our performance of 96.2% of cocoa sourced through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan in 2025, reflects the steps we have taken to strengthen our processes. This has occurred alongside challenges in the global cocoa supply chain (caused by increased market volatility), supply shortages, and the need to secure a continuity of cocoa supply for our products.

To remain aligned with our ambition for responsible sourcing while acknowledging the evolving complexities of global supply chains, we have adjusted our objective: from 2026 onwards, we aim to maintain 95%-100% cocoa sourced through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan. This reflects a pragmatic approach, introducing a tolerance to accommodate operational realities while maintaining our ambition level. The realities include:

• Integration of newly acquired businesses, which may require time to align with our Responsible Sourcing Core Requirements (pdf, 2Mb). 
• Challenges in securing full chain of custody, particularly in tail spend of minor quantities and in fragmented or high-risk supply chains where traceability remains work in progress at industry level.
• Tactical use of spot purchases to meet dynamic and short-term shifts in consumer demand, which may occasionally involve sourcing outside our certified or verified networks.
• Other unforeseen disruptions, such as logistics constraints and geopolitical events, which may require us temporarily to source outside our certified or verified network.
   

Our income accelerator program

Launched in January 2022, the Nestlé income accelerator program was first introduced in Côte d'Ivoire and rolled out in Ghana in 2024.

This innovative family-centered approach is aiming to close the gap to a living income and reduce child labor risks. The program is built and designed to encourage changes in behavior and reward practices – both within the home and on the farm – focusing on four key areas: cocoa farm productivity, school enrolment, agroforestry and additional incomes.

The program rewards cocoa farming families for practices intended to support the environment and local community. These rewards are delivered through incentives of up to EUR 500 to the two heads of the household via registered 'mobile money' accounts designed to support security and traceability. By prioritizing a family-centered approach, the program emphasizes the importance of women as catalysts for change.

Since launching the Nestlé income accelerator in 2022, we have been extending our reach, with an initial ambition of supporting approximately 160 000 cocoa-farming families by 2030. To date, about 45 000 families are participating. We will continue to expand our engagement while adapting our approach, including revisiting this initial ambition, as the TogetherCocoa Foundation scales. Going forward, we expect to broaden our reach both through our direct supply chain and the development of the Foundation.

According to a progress report published by KIT Institute in 2026, the program is making good progress with an encouraging +190% of cocoa net income (USD) vs. 2022 and +4% in cocoa production (kg/ha) vs. 2022.

Better farming - aiming to improve livelihoods in communities

We are providing farmers with training in good agriculture practices (GAPs) to help improve their livelihoods, including integrated pest and weed management, pruning, and planting shade trees to improve yields and increase resilience.

Farmers are trained in GAPs via field schools and through individual coaching, with adoption incentivized as part of Nestlé's work to promote regenerative agriculture methods. The GAPs training is intended to help farmers reduce disease rates in crops, improve bean quality, rejuvenate plantations and adopt land management practices intended to support environmental objectives.

In addition, to help diversify farmer incomes, we provide training and materials to grow or process crops like cassava, rear livestock such as chickens, and keep bees to produce honey.

The Nestlé team manages some aspects directly, including the supervision of shade tree nurseries, gender training for cooperatives and the development of video training. We subsidize pruning groups to improve productivity and trial new ideas that our suppliers can take to scale. We aim to develop long-term relationships with cooperatives, and several have been working with us for over eight years.

Better lives - aiming to improve social conditions for families 

Together with our partners, we are supporting women in cocoa-growing communities through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), empowering them and improving their access to finances. We are also tackling child labor risks through the Child Labor Monitoring Remediation System (CLMRS) that we created in 2012 in partnership with the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) and is today an industry standard.

Better cocoa - aiming to improve cocoa supply chain

We are moving towards a more transparent and traceable supply chain, continuing to develop certification and verification. At Nestlé, we are using various traceability schemes, including mass balance, segregated, and mix identity preserved. Read more about the different levels of traceability.  

Increasing traceability in a complex cocoa supply chain

For specific cocoa origins, such as Brazil, Ecuador or Venezuela, and for local usage, we follow a Nestlé Cocoa Plan verified approach (verified by independent third parties).

We are continuing to enhance our traceability systems. This will allow us to increase our understanding of risks in cocoa production, such as the risks of child labor or deforestation, and continuously work on addressing those risks in an effective manner.

Our cocoa suppliers (pdf, 200Kb) manage the commercial relationship with cooperatives and most of their sustainability activities, including Rainforest Alliance certification where relevant.

Discover more about Rainforest Alliance cocoa certification and on the different traceability levels.

Growing cocoa in a forest environment

Cocoa plants grow better and produce healthier crops when grown beneath the canopies of larger trees, which cast shade on the cocoa.

As part of our Roots of Net Zero (pdf, 14Mb) integrated climate and nature strategy and transition plan, and income accelerator program, we are supporting the planting of native forest and fruit trees for Cote d'Ivoire (like fraké, irvingia, akpi, framiré, bété and pepper) to protect their crops from heat stress and excessive rainfall. These trees can support water management, local biodiversity, soil organic matter and carbon sequestration. They also have the potential to provide additional income sources for farmers.

Through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, we have distributed 2.07 million forest and fruit trees globally. Learn more in the Environmental Disclosures section of our 2025 Non-Financial Statement (pdf, 18Mb).

Reporting transparently on deforestation

Since 2020, we have reported annually on how we are tackling deforestation and promoting regenerative agriculture practices among cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

Our CFI progress report shows our commitment to the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI). The CFI is a consortium of 35 leading cocoa and chocolate companies, representing 85% of global cocoa usage and led by the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, which states that it aims to help address deforestation and support forest restoration.

We recognize the need to accelerate and scale via collective action and co-investment in priority landscapes, in addition to supply-chain investments.

Find out more in our most recent Cocoa Forest Initiative Annual Progress Report (pdf, 2Mb) summary.

Thriving forests and committed communities

The Cavally Forest Reserve is one of Côte d'Ivoire's major preserved ecosystems, home to elephants and rich biodiversity, yet it faces degradation from illegal mining, logging, and cocoa farming. Today, government-led patrols, community partnerships, and satellite monitoring, aim to support the forest’s natural and active recovery.

We saw the forest cover within the Cavally forest increase by 10% since 2018, with over 7000 hectares regenerating naturally by 2024. This enhanced connectivity supports wildlife habitats, notably benefiting the approximately 250 forest elephants. We also established 972 hectares of forest, with 26 092 native trees planted in the Cavally Forest Reserve by 2024.

With governance now in place, some of the most dynamic progress is emerging from local communities. In 2024, over 2300 farmers participated in good agricultural practices training, often hosted by cooperatives in small-group sessions that foster knowledge exchange and local resilience.