Mondelez to continue support for Cocoa Life programme

Implementers of the Cocoa Life programme, Mondelez International, has assured cocoa farmers that it has no intention to withdraw the cocoa sustainability programmes that are designed to enhance their well-being.

The organisation said its association with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) would be sustained and further assured farmers of continued support from the Cocoa Life programme.

Cocoa Life is a sustainability programme originated by Mondelez International to assist cocoa-growing communities strengthen their capacities to determine and achieve their own long-term goals and economic development and prosperity.

To firm up this assurance, a team from Mondelez International in the USA is in the country to engage its local implementer and discuss how best services to cocoa farmers can be improved.

The visit also forms part of a strategy by Mondelez to enhance the Cocoa Life programme.

Mondolez team

The 10-member Mondelez team on the working visit had fruitful deliberations with its counterpart in Ghana, led by the Head of Cocoa Life in Ghana, Mrs Yaa Peprah Amekudzi.

The visiting team included the Global Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Martin Renaud; the Vice-President in charge of Global Chocolate, Ms Michelle Pickering, and the Vice-President in charge of Procurement and Global Raw Materials, Mr Alexandre Turolla.

A member of the company’s External Advisory Council, Ms Mil Niepold, and a mediation expert and President of Mara Partners are also travelling with the team.

Cocoa Life programme

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms Niepold said the main focus of the Cocoa Life programme in Ghana was making sure cocoa farmers earned more money and had their well-being improved.

She said that was being done by “helping them with good agricultural practices, training and accessibility to new and improved planting materials".

She also said Cocoa Life had, over the past 10 years, been building partnerships with various stakeholders, including COCOBOD and other national institutions, to strategise on ways to improve the industry and farmers, who were the main collaborators.

The Mondelez External Advisory Council member also said the programme was aimed at helping cocoa-growing communities to accept the responsibility to become more empowered to drive home development.

"Cocoa Life works hand in hand with national institutions and communities to design their own action plans, with the aim of conserving and sustaining cocoa farms," she said.

For his part, Mr Renaud said the Steering Committee of the Cocoa Life programme was the body that was helping the various teams working around Cocoa Life to define strategies and action plans geared towards securing the future of the programme.

He explained that the entire programme was built on partnerships with governments, non-governmental organisations, supply chain partners and cocoa farmer organisations, with the aim of understanding farmers’ needs and helping resolve them.