By Rakiya A.Muhammad
The international community has increasingly focused on sustainable cocoa production, driven by a growing need to safeguard human rights and environmental preservation.
Cocoa, which predominantly supports the livelihoods of around 50 million individuals, primarily in developing nations, has become a focal point for global efforts towards sustainability.
With a total trade value of $9.59 billion in 2021, cocoa ranks as the 367th most traded product in the world. It holds significant economic importance as a key ingredient in various industries, including the confectionery, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic sectors.
Grown across different continents, with a significant portion originating from countries in West Africa, its production process contributes to generating export revenue, income, and employment opportunities.
Concerns abound, however, regarding the unsustainable practices linked to cocoa production, which result in detrimental environmental consequences, including deforestation and habitat loss. The utilisation of child labour, the impact of climate change, and overaged tree stock remain significant concerns within the industry.
Also, many cocoa farmers continue to experience poverty and require improved pricing mechanisms to ensure the long-term sustainability of their products.
The Driving Force
The demand for aligning sustainability and the business logic in cocoa production has been rising worldwide, mainly driven by Europe. Europe is the primary global market for cocoa exporters, accounting for 56% of international imports. It is the largest producer and exporter of chocolate globally.
The European Union (EU) officially endorsed a proposition on 23 February 2022 for implementing a corporate sustainability due diligence directive. The primary aim of this directive is to cultivate sustainable and responsible practices within corporations while integrating human rights and environmental considerations into their operational and governance frameworks.
“As the world’s largest importer of cocoa, the EU has a clear responsibility to ensure that the chocolate and cocoa we eat is sustainably produced,” asserts Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President and Commissioner for Trade.
Against this backdrop, the EU, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana endorsed an alliance on sustainable cocoa to establish required standards in their cocoa production.
Côte d’Ivoire is the leading global cocoa producer, boasting an annual production above two million metric tons. In second place, Ghana follows closely with a production volume surpassing one million tons.
The collective endeavour is a noteworthy advancement, according to the EU official. “The sustainable cocoa initiative is a remarkable development. Together with our African partners, we have built a movement of positive change that can benefit everyone: farmers, industry, traders and consumers alike.”
Alex Assanvo, the Executive Secretary of the Cote d’Ivoire Ghana Cocoa Initiative, perceives the alliance for sustainable cocoa as an opportune moment to collaboratively enhance the economic aspect of sustainable cocoa value chains and ensure that farmers receive a price that is in complete accordance with a living income.
The European Union, which has established a target of 2025 for the prohibition of unsustainable cocoa beans, asserts that this new regulation will compel businesses to confront and mitigate the negative consequences of their activities within and beyond Europe, particularly within their value chains.
The endorsement of the EU Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive by the Cocoa Coalition, as stated in their joint position statement, is regarded as a significant advancement towards facilitating the essential transformation of the cocoa and chocolate industry, along with other sectors.
“We welcome in particular the detailed description in the Directive of the steps companies are to take in implementing their due diligence obligation, including in articles 7(preventing potential adverse impacts) and 8(bringing actual adverse impacts to an end),” it states
“We also welcome the many references to the need for support to SMEs affected by the Directive (which should encompass SMEs outside the EU and inside).”
The coalition further acknowledges including provisions that facilitate access to redress, such as civil liability. It is noteworthy, as the Deforestation Regulation did not have any such suggestions, necessitating careful consideration of small-scale farmers’ difficulties.
Rebalancing value-chains
Considering an increasing recognition of the sustainability dimension of economic development, prominent stakeholders within the global cocoa sector are actively striving to mitigate the detrimental effects on human rights and the environment that arise from their activities and supply chains.
There has been an enhanced level of collaboration between cocoa-origin governments, cocoa supply chain companies, and cocoa-producing communities to strengthen the sustainability of the cocoa sector. This collaboration encompasses initiatives such as improving sustainable livelihoods for cocoa farmers and their communities, addressing child labour, promoting afforestation and climate-smart agroforestry practices, and ultimately ending deforestation.
Significant progress has been made toward ending deforestation in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, according to a new study from the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI), a cooperative effort to do away with deforestation from the cocoa supply in both countries.
CFI collaborates with the two governments, 36 cocoa and chocolate corporations, and various stakeholders to advance the cause of sustainable cocoa production and the preservation of forest ecosystems.
One prominent achievement of the effort is the notable improvement in traceability that the participating companies have accomplished. According to CFI, the traceability of direct cocoa supply down to the plot level reached 85% in 2022, showing an 18% rise compared to the previous year.
The development, CFI says, demonstrates the partners’ dedication to sustainability and openness.
“The CFI action plan for the 2022-2025 period aims to consolidate the achievement of the pilot phase and to increase the impacts of actions initiated; particular emphasis will be placed on the operationalisation of the National Traceability System and the National Forest Monitoring and Deforestation Early Warning System,” reveals Laurent Tchagba Minister of Water and Forests, Cote d’Ivoire.
“These instruments are necessary to meet the European Union Deforestation Regulation.”
In March, Cote d’Ivoire, the leading cocoa producer, started a comprehensive national sustainable cocoa strategy to improve cocoa farmers’ income and overall welfare. This strategy also seeks to address the issues of deforestation and child labour within the cocoa farming industry by the year 2025.
Through three thematic pillars, CFI’s operations in Ghana align with current national forest preservation plans and policies, encourage sustainable land use practices, assist with implementing cocoa agroforestry, and ensure transparency in the cocoa supply chain.
Forest protection and restoration are among the pillars, as are sustainable agriculture and farmers’ livelihoods, community engagement and social inclusion.
It works to enhance cocoa growers’ livelihoods by providing them with training, inputs, and financial access.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, Samuel Jinapor, identifies deforestation and forest degradation as the common adversary of sustainable forest management. “Under the CFI umbrella, we must be resolute and invest resources to ensure that the primary goal of halting deforestation and forest degradation in the cocoa supply chain is achieved over the long term.”
Initiatives such as the Landscape Approach to Sustainable and Climate Change Resilient Cocoa and Coffee Agroforestry (LASCARCOCO) are supporting sustainable agroforestry for cocoa smallholders in Indonesia, the third-largest producer of cocoa in the world with an annual production of 600,000 metric tons.
LASCARCOCO focuses on enhancing environmental sustainability through agroforestry practices in cocoa and coffee-producing landscapes and improving the welfare of rural communities through increased market access and resilience to climate change.
The collaborative effort between USAID, the Government of Indonesia, Olam Food Industries, Rikolto, and Hershey is training cocoa farmers on sustainability agroforestry practices, improving the management of 15000 hectares of watershed and buffer vegetation surrounding cocoa and coffee landscape, and reducing 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Cocoa growers in Nigeria, among the top cocoa-producing countries with a 6.5% share of global production, are optimistic about the industry’s future now that stakeholders are taking action to end unsustainable practices.
“It is interesting to note that stakeholders have taken numerous actions that are presently addressing some of the challenges militating against the sustainability of the sector, such as child labour menace, deforestation, traceability, application of unapproved or banned pesticide in cocoa farms, among others,” says Adeola Adegoke, National President Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria(CFAN).
Through a coordinated effort with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the association has stepped up its efforts to end child labour in the cocoa industry, with remediation being institutionalised to assist the victims of the menace in such affected communities.
One effort to improve outcomes for smallholder farmers and local people along the cocoa value chain is the Traceability and Resilience in Agriculture and Cocoa Ecosystems (TRACE) Project.
Cocoa farmers in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ekiti, Ondo, and Osun will benefit from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food for Progress Programme over the five-year TRACE project.
With $22 million approved for the project through the Lutheran World Relief, TRACE covers traceability, climate-smart practices, inputs support to smallholder farmers, capacity building along the value chain and exports in collaboration with the Nigerian cocoa stakeholders.
“This programme involves the preservation of the indigenous trees in our cocoa farms and the distribution of free seedlings to our cocoa farmers for planting on their farms,” explains Adegoke.
“This programme will further reduce the carbon dioxide emission and place Nigeria to be listed to receive carbon credit funding very soon through REDD+”.
The CFAN President affirms a strong belief that the cocoa sector in Nigeria would undergo significant changes throughout the supply chain, noting the determination of all stakeholders to protect huge investments and ensure a seamless journey to complete sustainability.
Not There Yet
Stakeholders are advocating for more significant efforts toward sustainability.
“We realise we are not where we need to be. Deforestation in West Africa continues to increase, and no matter what the contribution of cocoa to the overall number is, this trend should be reversed,” Daan Wensing, CEO of Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), points out.
“To do so, actors need to step up and mobilise resources by putting plans into action and moving forward in public-private partnerships.”
Chris Vincent, the President of the World Cocoa Foundation, also emphasises the pressing necessity to expedite and expand efforts to achieve significant progress in pursuing zero deforestation.
The International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) recommends long-term planning, investment, and structural solutions to secure the sector’s needed transformation.
“These may require tackling poverty in cocoa-producing countries and addressing issues embedded in the global market economy,” says IISD.
“These issues include high market concentration and asymmetrical power relations among cocoa traders, manufacturers and farmers. The effect of global supply and demand dynamics on farmers’ livelihoods and the influence of cocoa future prices in the real economy.
