Global Cocoa Sector Meets in Cote D'Ivoire to Explore New Directions for Sustainability
Nearly 500 representatives of the global chocolate and cocoa sector, including farmers, have gathered in Cote d'Ivoire, the world's leading producer of cocoa, to address critical sustainability issues confronting the crop, which is the main source of income for millions of people across West Africa and in large parts of Latin America and Southeast Asia. The Partnership Meeting & Cocoa Sustainability Trade Fair, centered on the theme "People, Planet, Profit in a Changing World," is jointly organized by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa regulatory agency, Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao.
Underscoring the urgency of these issues, WCF and the United States Government's Feed the Future are launching African Cocoa Initiative II. The five-year, $12 million effort will increase production of quality cocoa planting materials and provide financial services to cocoa farmers in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria. The program is a joint effort to support the implementation of the World Cocoa Foundation's CocoaAction strategy for cocoa sustainability and brings together the public and private sector.
Carsten ten Brink