Celebrating the partners at the heart of Ferrero’s cocoa sustainability this World Chocolate Week

Cocoa is produced in the tropical zones of Africa, South America and Asia by four to five million smallholder farmers. The cocoa we use mainly comes from West Africa and Ecuador, and it passes the same quality requirements that we apply to all our raw materials.

Cocoa is derived from cocoa pods, which grow on cacao trees. Every pod contains dozens of large seeds, and when these are put through a special fermenting and drying process, they become cocoa beans.    

The challenges facing cocoa farmers in West Africa are complex. They require organisations, governments, and industry partners to work together to drive wide-scale positive change - beyond our individual supply chains.

We work in partnership with our suppliers, non-profit and farmer organisations to address agricultural, social, environmental and business issues in cocoa farming, to drive meaningful change on the ground, and to improve the livelihoods of farmers and their communities, protect children’s rights, and safeguard the natural capital.

This World Chocolate Week, we want to celebrate and share how we support and work collaboratively with our local communities and through our sustainability program. The projects include:

• The World Cocoa Foundation, ​​of which we are long-term members of, to identify the needs of cocoa farmers and their communities and develop action plans in response.
• The International Cocoa Initiative​​ to identify the needs of cocoa farmers and develop action plans to help address child labour in cocoa-growing communities.
• Save the Children​​ to implement Child-Centred Community Development programmes to put the mechanisms in place to protect children and to provide opportunities for children through access to quality education and basic facilities.
• The Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), ​​of which we are a founding member, to end deforestation and restore forest areas in cocoa producing countries Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Supporting ongoing local projects in regions led to some of the following key achievements in the 2019/20 year:

• 267 communities in Ivory Coast and Ghana were supported through the Community Development Programme
• Almost 118,000 farmers were trained in Good Agricultural Practices, and 31,000 farmers have been trained in the Climate Smart Cocoa approach
• Over 157,000 farmers received a cash premium on top of cocoa market prices
• More than 164,000 hectares were covered by our deforestation risk assessments
• Over 700,000 multi-purpose trees were distributed for on-farm planting

We’re committed to quality, ethical and sustainable sourcing​​

The cocoa beans we buy meet specific quality requirements, often surpassing industry standards. When they are delivered to our  manufacturing plants, they must pass meticulous quality checks before being accepted and used in our products. We expertly blend our cocoa with other ingredients, such as milk, to create our Ferrero Rocher, Nutella and Kinder ranges.

In our factory, each bean is prepared, roasted, and ground, to create a cocoa liquid. But our commitment to quality doesn’t stop there. 

It is crucial that we deliver on our promise to retailers and consumers to provide products of not only the highest quality and freshness, but also produced in a responsible way.

As part of our Ferrero Farming Values programme, we are committed to supporting and improving cocoa farming sustainability to have a positive and lasting impact.

That’s why we’re committed to ethical and sustainable sourcing throughout our supply chain:

• We source 100% sustainable cocoa verified by independently managed schemes such as Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and others
• Our cocoa beans are traceable to farms
• We use technology to map farms and sourcing areas so that we know their location, size and productivity

Looking ahead to the future​​

We feel privileged that our brands like Nutella and Kinder have become family favourites across the UK. With this comes a responsibility to make products that have quality at heart.

We will continue to strengthen our cocoa sustainability program and will continue to collaborate with our industry partners to achieve a positive and lasting impact on the cocoa value chain; we care about these details to guarantee the quality and enjoyment of our unique products, so our retailers and consumers can rest assured that the cocoa we use is always sustainable and responsibly sourced.