Côte d’Ivoire grows 40% of the world’s cocoa, making it the top producing country globally.
ofi established a cocoa trading business in CDI in 1997, today we have the largest procurement network for sustainable cocoa in the country and are the second-largest exporter of cocoa by volume.
We are a member of the Cocoa Livelihoods Programme and the African Cocoa Initiative, and a founding member of Cocoa Action to promote productivity and develop communities. In addition to the support of communities, we also seek to protect the environment, as such we are one of the 12 signatories of the Cocoa and Forests anti-deforestation agreement coordinated by WCF.
Our extensive infrastructure includes five bean cleaning and bagging facilities and 16 warehouses. We have two state-of-the-art grinding facilities, one in San Pedro and one in Abidjan, producing cocoa liquor, butter, and cake.
Read more about our global cocoa business here, and our Cocoa Compass which maps our sustainability goals and activities here.
Côte d’Ivoire has quadrupled its crop size to 700,000 MT in the last 10 years, making it the largest cashew producing and exporting country in Africa. It is also one of the largest suppliers of Organic and Fairtrade cashew kernels in the world.
Established in 1994, our cashew business is the market leader for trading. Our supplier base exceeds 35,500 partner farmers and 200 traders, of which 31,000 are supported through sustainability programmes. We have pioneered linking farmers to a guaranteed market and improving traceability for our customers with the support of our in-house digital team.
Our infrastructure includes 3 processing facilities in Bouaké, Dimbokro and Djekanou which provide jobs to more than 4,000 workers (of whom more than 70% are women), two factories, 12 satellite units, 15 warehouses, and nine offices. Our “Sustainable Cashew Growers Programme” links farmers from over 350 villages to the factories and has been a 2013 finalist at the Guardian Sustainable Business awards in the supply chain category.
Read more about our global cashew business here, and our sustainability initiatives here.
Through our strong trading network, we buy around a third of the country’s 120,000 MT of Robusta and are the largest exporters to North Africa, Europe and Asia.
One of our desired sustainability outcomes is to help farmers and food systems prosper. Our supplier base includes approximately 13,000 partner farmers and 144 cooperatives, many of whom receive direct farmer training from ofi.
In addition, we have launched a project to rejuvenate the coffee plantations and distributed over 2,000 hectares of high-yielding coffee seedlings, 60% of which are productive. We finance post-harvest infrastructure including 120 hulling machines.
We are the first 4C-verified coffee exporter in Côte d’Ivoire - an independent verification that our supply chain is sustainable.
Our infrastructure includes a factory, seven warehouses and marketing offices, and two laboratories.
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Author | Andrew Brooks | Head of Sustainability, Cocoa, ofi
World Chocolate Day, a day to not only indulge, but to remember the people and landscapes that grow the cocoa that goes into our favorite products. Both are vital to help maintain a sustainable future for cocoa production. That’s why as part of our Cocoa Compass sustainability ambition, we collaborate with our customers and partners on multi-stakeholder partnerships to drive collective action and lasting impact.
Climate change is among the biggest challenges in growing cocoa. In Indonesia, for example, intensive rainfall, drought, rising temperatures, and an increase in related pests, threatens farmer yields and erodes their livelihoods, including those of women and indigenous groups that depend on their crops for subsistence. Yet many farmers struggle to access the support they need to adapt and become more resilient.
A climate-smart agroforestry system is key to addressing and mitigating climate change risks, which is why we co-created the Landscape Approach to Sustainable and Climate Change Resilient Cocoa and Coffee (LASCARCOCO), a three-year partnership with USAID, non-profit Rikolto, the Hershey Company, and the Indonesian Government, to help 6,500 farmers increase yields by 25% and conserve 14,000 hectares by late 2025.
Through the partnership, we have developed a new curriculum to train farmers in Good Agricultural Practices and climate adaption, promoted sustainable agroforestry – where forest and shade trees are planted alongside cocoa and coffee to restore forest covers – and provided farmers with seedlings. It’s already making a difference – in year one of the project, approximately 8,600 individuals were reached directly or indirectly via the program. The LASCARCOCO USAID ofi project has successfully bridged a constructed collaborative action with stakeholders involved in the project such as farmers, forest communities, government, and forest authorities to deliver an agroforestry program.
Good landscape governance is also critical to protect the land and the incomes of the farmers who work it. In Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, we’re working with the Rainforest Alliance and USAID on the Resilient Ecosystems and Sustainable Transformation of Rural Economies (RESTORE) project. This not only promotes regenerative and sustainable cocoa production; it also aims to strengthen Landscape Management Boards (LMBs).
These boards are important because they bring key stakeholders together – community members, local farmers, the Ghanaian Forestry Commission, and COCOBOD – and give the local community a say in how the land is managed. We provide ongoing support and training to LMB members on everything from management and financial literacy to climate-smart farming and forest-friendly enterprises such as beekeeping and piggery.
Whilst we’re proud of the impact we have made so far, there is still much more to do. We remain focused on working with customers, civil society, national governments, and other stakeholders to support farmers and to protect landscapes across origins – so when consumers pick up their chocolate bar or cocoa-flavored treat, they can be confident that it’s been produced in a way that supports people and helps protect the planet.
Author | Billie Elmqvist Thurén | Human Rights ofi Sustainability & Cocoa Lead
Accessible education is an effective way to reduce the risk of the incidence of child labor as well as providing a foundation for protecting children’s rights. Through our Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), we monitor and identify the specific needs of communities across our nine global sustainable sourcing regions.
From providing access to schools closer to home to initiatives that empower cocoa households to be more economically resilient, here are a few ways we are removing barriers for children in our cocoa supply chain to attend school and develop their future potential.
- New 2030 social and environmental targets set for ofi’s global operations which span ~50 countries, building on the existing product-specific strategies for cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices.
- Strong focus on supply chain excellence to enhance supplier engagement, mitigate supply chain risks, and give customers more rigorous, verifiable data for sustainability decision-making and reporting.
- Impact will be achieved in partnership with farmers, governments, civil society and ofi’s customers, backed by clear action plans and methodologies outlined by ofi.
ofi, a leading supplier of naturally good food and beverage ingredients, today unveiled a new sustainability strategy – ‘Choices for Change’ and ambitious 2030 targets.
Global food brands and retailers are facing growing consumer demand for sustainable products, with increasing weather related and other challenges in the food supply chain and significant new sustainability linked legislation coming up. With ‘Choices for Change’, ofi will provide these companies and their consumers with specific choices to deliver long-term impact across four critical pillars: Prosperous Farmers, Thriving Communities, Climate Action, and Regenerating the Living World.
Every 2030 target in the Choices for Change strategy delivers on key customer needs, including:
- Delivering enhanced livelihood support to one million farmers, helping them to be more productive and deliver better quality ingredients.
- Cutting scope 3 emissions by 30% to offer customers verifiable, low-carbon products and ingredients and contribute to net-zero commitments.
- Bringing 2 million hectares of land under regenerative farming practices to create long-term farm resilience and products with verified positive natural impact.
To give customers more rigorous, verifiable data for sustainability decision-making and reporting, the strategy incorporates a focus on supply chain excellence. This brings traceability, data insights, risk mitigation, verification, and in-depth supplier engagement together to enable the right choices and includes ofi’s suite of award-winning tech tools like AtSource - the sustainability management system and its built in Carbon Scenario Planner for planning and costing climate action.
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