Mondelēz International, makers of Cadbury, has announced a partnership aimed at improving the lives of cocoa farmers, their families and communities.
The plan will see an extension of Cadbury’s farmer-focused sustainability program, Cocoa Life, with independent verification from Fairtrade. The program aims to benefit 200,000 farmers and one million people in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, India and Brazil, by investing $400 million over the 10 years until 2022.
Cadbury and Fairtrade will now work together globally on new innovative programs to strengthen the future for farming communities, such as building resilience to climate change – which cocoa farmers say is already a key threat to their livelihoods. In addition, Fairtrade will work with Cocoa Life to develop farmer organisations and enhance the understanding and reporting of the program’s impact on cocoa farmers, families and their communities. The extension of Cocoa Life will begin with core Cadbury Dairy Milk products in Australia and New Zealand from 2018.
“Since the launch of Cocoa Life in 2012, we’ve touched more than 795 cocoa farming communities around the world,” Mondelēz International Director Marketing Chocolate Australia and New Zealand Kjetil Undhjem said.
“We’re proud to share independent verification which shows that Ghanaian farmers’ incomes have increased by 49 per cent more than farmers outside of the program. Through Cocoa Life, we want to build on the program’s success by becoming an accountable partner for our cocoa farmers, not just a buyer. We support Fairtrade’s vision to drive sustainable livelihoods through empowered farming organisations and communities and fairer terms of trade. And we’re proud to have Fairtrade’s support in helping us achieve this.”