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.