Hershey statement on Cocoa Sustainability and Supporting the West African LID
Hershey’s commitment to improving cocoa farmer livelihoods and ensuring a long-term sustainable cocoa supply is unwavering. Solving the many challenges within cocoa production, such as low incomes, poverty, child labor and environmental protection will be possible only through collaboration and cooperation across industry, governments, and civil society. We look forward to continuing to engage with the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana in the spirit of our longtime mutual collaboration and partnership to advance our shared goals.
We are fully participating in the LID for cocoa purchases already made from the 2020/2021 crop as we buy a substantial supply sourced from Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. And we will continue to participate in the LID to support cocoa farmer livelihoods going forward. We recognize the importance and the value of the LID as a means to reach and improve the lives of farmers across the entire Ivorian and Ghanaian cocoa farming industry, not just the ones directly involved in our programs.
Industry sustainability programs, such as ours, complement and strengthen efforts to positively impact cocoa-growing communities and we remain ready, willing and able to continue these important program such as child labor monitoring and remediation, farmer training, environmental protection, and childhood nutritional supplements. We are eager to move ahead with our sustainability programs so farmers continue to receive the benefits provided by our on-the-ground programs as well as the price premium for certified cocoa.
Introducing Cocoa for Good
At Hershey, we envision a world where cocoa farmers and their families are able to live healthy, prosperous lives; where cocoa communities and ecosystems thrive for generations to come.
Our Cocoa For Good strategy outlines our plan for sustainable cocoa.
We’re investing half a billion dollars by 2030 to nourish children, elevate youth, build prosperous communities and preserve natural ecosystems.
Because sustainable cocoa is bigger than the environment – it’s about people and working together to safeguard the world’s cocoa supply, the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and communities around the world.
Together with our partners and cocoa-growing communities, we’re working to holistically address the most pressing issues these communities are facing – from poverty to climate change.
We aim to:
- Increase access to nutritious foods. Families need access to nutritious foods to live healthy lives and avoid issues like anemia, which affects 1.6 billion people worldwide.
- Eliminate child labor. A symptom of poverty in cocoa communities, children aged 14–17 are at the greatest risk.
- In 2018, we introduced Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in our supply chain.
- Economically empower women. West African women are 45% of cocoa farm labor, but have less access to training, financial services and land than men.
- Increase agroforestry and shade-grown cocoa. Cocoa grown in the shade is productive for up to 15 years longer than cocoa grown in full sun.
Cocoa For Good builds on the work we’ve already done in cocoa-growing communities by helping to feed families, equipping young people with the skills to succeed, empowering women and men to prosper, and protecting our forests.
We believe a more sustainable cocoa supply will move us toward a more sustainable world. There is much work to be done, and we’re committed to doing our part. Cocoa For Good is our strategy to get there.
Learn more about Cocoa For Good:
- Download and share our infographic (get printer friendly version).
- Read our press release.
- Read our blog.
- Learn more about our cocoa sourcing strategy and human rights due diligence in cocoa.