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Cocoa sourcing

A cocoa fruit held open showing the cocoa beans inside

 

Cocoa is a key ingredient in our confectionery products, especially chocolate. But cultivating cocoa involves numerous challenges, like deforestation, child labor risks and low incomes for cocoa-farming households.

 

Our progress toward responsibly sourced cocoa

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The Nestlé Cocoa Plan, along with Rainforest Alliance certification, allows us to help tackle these social and environmental issues to create a sustainable cocoa supply chain. We are committed to sourcing 100% of our cocoa through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan by 2025.

Our income accelerator plan, which was first introduced in Côte d’Ivoire, has now successfully completed its test at scale phase and is now being rolled out in Ghana as well. 

Our approach to sourcing cocoa

The Nestlé Cocoa Plan is our plan for building a more responsible cocoa supply chain. We are working with farmers, communities and local and international organizations to develop and implement solutions to the challenges facing cocoa-farming communities.

As well as our work with farming communities, we aim to ensure that our cocoa suppliers comply with our Responsible Sourcing Standard. The Nestlé Cocoa Plan is expanding its reach each year, aiming to cover 100% of our cocoa supply by the end of 2025.

Our income accelerator program

The Nestlé Cocoa Plan income accelerator program aims to tackle child labor risks by incentivizing and supporting change in cocoa-farming households and to help them towards a living income. To achieve this, support is provided across four areas: cocoa farm productivity, child education, agroforestry and additional incomes, underpinned by a cash incentive. After a successful ‘test at scale’ phase in Côte d’Ivoire, the Nestlé Cocoa Plan income accelerator program will be launched in Ghana.

So far, we have supported cocoa farmers to increase productivity through training in agroforestry techniques, income diversification, and by equipping and subsidizing pruning groups. Families have participated in village savings and loan associations, combined with gender and entrepreneurship training. The work has positively impacted school enrollment and gender balance, with women more involved in decision-making. 

The scheme, which has already reached 10 000 families in the Côte d’Ivoire regions of Abengourou, Gagnoa and Divo, will be extended to cover an estimated 160 000 cocoa farming families throughout our cocoa supply chain by 2030.

More information can be found in our progress report (pdf, 2Mb).

Three pillars of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan

  • Better farming
    providing training and resources to help farmers improve their crops, increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods.
    Cocoa farmers
  • Better lives
    tackling child labor risks, empowering women and improving education to help communities thrive.
    Young African student
  • Better cocoa
    enhancing supply chain traceability and tackling deforestation.
    Hand picking cocoa beans

Better farming

We are helping farmers to improve their crops and livelihoods by supporting best practices, providing resources and incentivizing them to adopt regenerative agricultural methods. Farmers are trained in field schools and by individual coaching. 

Through our training, farmers can reduce disease in crops, improve bean quality, rejuvenate plantations and manage land more sustainably. To help diversify farmer incomes, we provide training and access to cassava and plantain growing, livestock rearing and beekeeping to produce honey. 

Cocoa sourcing > Components > Second column
This footage was filmed on a mobile phone, which may affect the audio-visual quality.

We are very pleased with progress, especially in starting to transform the way cocoa is farmed, with professional groups now pruning to a high standard. Gender empowerment is key to the program, and it’s great to learn about the impact of women’s decision-making in many households.

Darrel High next to coca plant
Darell High Head of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan

 

Better lives

Tackling child labor risks in our cocoa supply chain

Child labor risks are a complex and challenging issue in our cocoa supply chain, and are affected by many factors, including poverty, demographics, education, infrastructure and local culture. We work with the International Cocoa Initiative, supply chain partners and local communities in West Africa to address the risks of child labor.

Since 2012, a key element in our work has been our Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), which helps us to identify children at risk, raise awareness and provide remediation.

Our remediation work includes helping children get access to schooling by building and refurbishing schools, providing school kits and helping obtain birth certificates. Further insights into the successes and challenges of running CLMRS in Côte d’Ivoire can be found in our Tackling Child Labor report (pdf, 6Mb) and our Creating Shared Value and Sustainability Report 2023 (pdf, 19Mb).

The Nestlé Cocoa Plan is also helping transform cocoa supply chains beyond Nestlé. Our Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), has been adopted by many companies as a leading tool for tackling child labor risks. Addressing child labor risks and access to education is one of our 10 salient human rights issues, set out in our action plans.

Better cocoa

We work closely with direct suppliers and partners to trace the cocoa we source back to individual farmers and implement practices such as forest and fruit-tree planting to help tackle deforestation.

Increasing traceability in a complex cocoa supply chain

We aim to achieve full traceability and segregation of our cocoa products, from their origin to the factory. Our cocoa is largely grown by smallholders. Our approach is to work with farming cooperatives – these group the output of multiple farmers while providing traceability and records of purchases from individual farmers.

Full traceability will drive greater supply chain transparency and accountability, both internally and on an industry-wide scale. This is critical to effectively addressing child labor and deforestation risks in cocoa production.

Our Tier 1 suppliers (pdf, 300Kb) manage the commercial relationship with cooperatives and most of their sustainability activities, including Rainforest Alliance certification where relevant.

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.

school children supported by the cocoa plan

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 Net Zero Roadmap and income accelerator program, we are encouraging farmers to plant more forest and fruit trees to protect their crops from heat stress and excessive rainfall. These trees also help to improve water management, local biodiversity, soils’ 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 1.39 million forest and fruit trees globally.

Supporting local communities

Reporting transparently on deforestation

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

Our Towards Forest Positive Cocoa report (pdf, 6Mb) is part of 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 aims to end deforestation and restore forest areas. 

We have successfully completed the CFI 1.0 – an important milestone for Nestlé, and other signatory companies, stakeholders and governments – and we are now in the second phase of CFI 2023-2025. We recognize the need to accelerate and scale via collective action and co-investment in priority landscapes, in addition to supply-chain investments.

Our work with CFI is part of our Forest Positive strategy, launched in 2021 to build on our work to end deforestation in our supply chains. For us, Forest Positive means moving beyond just managing deforestation risks in our supply chain toward having a positive impact on our broader sourcing landscapes.

Thriving forests and committed communities

Our efforts to reduce deforestation in the Cavally Forest in Côte d’Ivoire have helped to secure the natural regeneration of 7 000 hectares and the reforestation of almost 1 500 hectares, while benefitting 1 400 people financially. 

The second phase of the project will build on this work by: 

  • Stimulating natural regeneration and rehabilitating degraded areas in close collaboration with local communities.
  • Helping smallholder farmers increase their productivity, achieve greater income diversification and gain easier access to financing.
  • Raising awareness and providing easier access to school to help protect the rights of children, in particular by acquiring birth certificates.
  • Establishing a more transparent supply chain for cocoa and rubber through increased traceability and transparency of prices and payments to producers.
Creating Shared Value and Sustainability Report cover