Hershey has announced a five-year agreement with nine cocoa-producing cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire, marking a significant step forward in sustainable cocoa sourcing. This latest initiative builds upon the company’s “Cocoa For Good” strategy, a comprehensive 10-year, $500 million investment launched in 2018 to tackle the complex challenges facing cocoa farmers.
The agreement, announced during the annual National Cocoa and Chocolate Days in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, represents a significant advancement in Hershey’s commitment to sustainable cocoa farming. At its core is a memorandum of understanding between Hershey, Sucden, and the nine cooperatives, designed to create lasting positive change in farming communities.
How Hershey’s plans to support cocoa farmers
The partnership focuses on three key objectives: professionalizing cocoa farming to improve profitability, investing in community-based resources to enhance household wellbeing, and strengthening farm resilience while preserving the environment. This long-term collaboration provides farmers with stability and enables more direct engagement in addressing on-farm challenges.
“Improving farmer incomes requires a holistic approach and collaboration across public and private sectors,” says Tricia Brannigan, Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer for Hershey. “Collaboration happens best when you have trust. Trust is built over time through strong, long-lasting relationships.”
The agreement aligns with Côte d’Ivoire’s National Strategy for Sustainable Cocoa, ensuring a coordinated and lasting approach to addressing key challenges in the Ivorian cocoa sector.
Hershey’s current cocoa investments
Beyond the $500 million strategy, Hershey’s launched a $40 million Income Accelerator program in 2023. The company is also funding primary school construction in farming communities through an agreement with the National Oversight Committee for Actions to Fight Child Labor, Trafficking and Exploitation and the International Cocoa Initiative.
Other initiatives set forth by Hershey’s also include a recent $20 million investment in Blue Stripes, which aims to advance sustainable cacao processing technologies that utilize 70% of typically discarded cacao fruit. This was done alongside retail giant Whole Foods.
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