Agriculture
Chocolate Firms To Empower Female Cocoa Farmers
Ms Judy Beals, the Campaign Manager, Oxfam International Behind the Brands Campaign, yesterday said three chocolate manufacturers had agreed to improve the lives of female cocoa farmers in their supply chain.
This is contained in a statement issued by Oxfam in Lagos, which listed the three companies as Mondelez International, Mars and Nestle.
In the statement, Beals said that the three were the world’s biggest manufacturers of chocolate and they control 40 per cent of the global chocolate market.
“This commitment follows pressure from consumers as part of Oxfam Behind the Brands Campaign.
“More than 100,000 people signed petitions and took action to urge Mondelçz International and its competitors to tackle the hunger, poverty and unequal pay women cocoa farmers’ experience.
“The companies also faced a growing stream of comments on Facebook and Twitter urging them to act,” she said.
Beals said that the impact of Mondelçz International, Mars and Nestlé’s promises, if kept would reverberate across cocoa supply chains.
“Empowering women cocoa farmers has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people, some of whom are earning less than two dollars a day,” Beal said.
She said that the companies’ commitment would include conducting and publishing impact assessments by third party organisations on women in their cocoa supply chains.
She said that it would also produce action plans for the Cocoa Life programmes that would deliver better capacity toward a sustainable livelihood to women farmers and workers.
Beals urged other manufacturers to follow Mars, Mondelçz International and Nestle steps and know that consumers were paying attention to how companies impact the communities they work in.
“The Behind the Brands Campaign will continue to highlight areas where companies are not living up to their responsibilities to communities,’’ she said.
Federal Government and the Ogun State Government, on Wednesday, distributed farm inputs to farmers as part of effort to address food security challenge.
The State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Toyin Ayo-Ajayi, during the flag-off ceremony of Inputs Redemption Under The National Agricultural Growth Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), in Ogun State, disclosed that beneficiaries of the gesture were primarily rice, maize and cassava farmers across the State.
Ayo-Ajayi commended the Ogun State Government for partnering with the government at the centre for the effort in supporting farmers with inputs that would bring about yieldings for local consumption and likely exportation.
She noted that government is supporting rice, cassava and maize farmers with inputs worth N212,000; N189,000 and N186,000 respectively.
The Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Kehinde Jokotoye, who represented the Commissioner in the Ministry, Bolu Owotomo, stated that traditional farmers are critical in food production, hence the need to encourage and support them with inputs that would bring about desired results during harvesting.
Owotomo said: “Let us make good use of this opportunity, so that the success of this phase will make farmers benefit more from the state and federal governments of Nigeria.”
Earlier, State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Oluwatoyin Ayo-Ajayi, appreciated the present administration for partnering with the federal government for the initiative, adding that the programme is designed to support farmers at the grassroots level in cassava, rice and maize with inputs such as, seeds, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, to boost their production and enhance their livelihood.