£310m bid to secure future of chocolate

CADBURY chocolate bars sold in the UK are to be produced only with cocoa from farmers taking part in a £310million scheme to secure future supplies.

The company’s cocoa comes from Ghana, where unprofitable subsistence farming methods and climate change have threatened supplies.

Growing cocoa has become so challenging that the average age of farmers is 55 as youngsters head to cities to find better-paid jobs or even turn to illegal gold mining.

But the Cocoa Life sustainability scheme is aimed at encouraging better agricultural practices, including weeding and pruning, planting shade trees to protect cocoa from rising temperatures and ensuring better use of land.

The programme is also funding community work such as giving children bicycles to get to school and helping to develop other businesses such as bakeries and soap-making.

By the end of next year, all Cadbury chocolate bars in the UK and Ireland will carry a symbol, showing the cocoa was sourced through Cocoa Life.

The programme is also working with Tree Global, a company that grows more resilient, fast-yielding plants. Adjei Emmanuel Mensah, who has planted trees from Tree Global, said he got his first yields within 18 months, compared with a normal wait of three to five years.

Supplies are under threat