FDBusiness.com

Cargill has celebrated the fifth anniversary of its cocoa processing operations in Ghana by reaffirming its support to growing and developing the country’s cocoa sector. As part of its continued commitment to sustainable cocoa through the Cargill Cocoa Promise, the company has announced the renewal of its partnership with CARE to support smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana.

“We are delighted to mark our fifth year in Ghana by renewing our partnership with CARE to improve farmers’ livelihoods and support the development of sustainable cocoa in Ghana,” says Jos de Loor, president of Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business. “Ghana has built its reputation throughout the world for its outstanding quality cocoa. Over the past five years we have been able to produce a diverse range of locally processed high quality cocoa products to meet the growing demand from our customers across the world and create value for the Ghanaian cocoa sector.”

Cargill’s US$100 million state-of-the art processing plant is the largest of its kind in the country and processes Ghanaian cocoa beans to produce Cargill’s Gerkens® Ghana cocoa powders, which are made available to customers in 24 countries, including Japan, the United States, China, Switzerland and Germany.

Cargill has announced the renewal of its partnership with CARE for an additional three-year period, with a commitment of over US$800.000. The renewal is part of Cargill’s global partnership with CARE, and the Rural Education Project in Ghana is key to supporting the Cargill Cocoa Promise, the company’s global commitment to the development of a sustainable cocoa supply chain, With over 9,500 farmers already trained in Ghana to date, the Promise aims to reach over 20,000 farmers through dedicated farmer field schools by 2016.

Over the next three years, the CARE project aims to build on achievements since 2006 to improve livelihoods in 110 cocoa communities in Ghana. Through a community development approach the project will continue to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farming households, increase access to education for local children and support sustainable cocoa production. Over the next three years the project aims to:

* Help increase the incomes of over 5,500 farmers and their families;

* Enable over 12,500 children to graduate from primary school;

* Provide support to over 3,000 parents to improve the education and nutrition of their children;

* Train 850 teachers and education officials.

“Again and again, we have seen how much Cargill takes its responsibility as a leading player in the cocoa industry very seriously. We appreciate its partnership to enable our farmers to sustainably produce high quality beans for its customers,” comments Tony Fofie, chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board.

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Picture shows cocoa farmers in the audience for the five year celebration.