Cocoa Sustainability Report - Tradin Organic...cocoa market to collapse, leaving many cocoa farmers...

COCOA

SUSTAINABILITY

REPORT

2018

1. INTRODUCTION

2. AT A GLANCE

3. SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

4. TRACEABILITY &

TRANSPARENCY

5. SUSTAINABLE PROCESSING

6. FARMER FIELD SCHOOLS IN

SIERRA LEONE

7. CHILD PROTECTION

PROGRAM

8. REPLANTING THE FOREST

CONTENT

“WE INVITE YOU

TO GET INVOLVED

IN OUR PROJECTS”

We are proud to present our first annual sustainability report on organic cocoa!

With organic cocoa beans from 10 origins and our own cocoa processing facility in the

Netherlands, organic cocoa is one of our most important and fascinating products. Tradin

Organic is grateful to work with thousands of organic and Fairtrade certified farmers. But,

considering the social and environmental challenges in the cocoa sector, we do not stop at

these labels. We go beyond these certifications with the vision of delivering the world’s most

sustainable organic cocoa products.

This report presents the most important sustainability milestones that we celebrated in 2018.

Among other achievements, you can read about the launch of our Farmer Field School

project in Sierra Leone, the expansion of our Fairtrade certification program and the

installation of a new production line at our cocoa processing facility, Crown of Holland.

This report also provides an outlook on our exciting plans for 2019. You will find more

information on our plans to further reduce and offset the carbon footprint of our cocoa

products. During 2019, we will also launch our innovative concept of climate positive

chocolate, a new way of rewarding our farmers for their regenerative organic production

practices.

Our 2019 sustainability agenda is particularly ambitious for our sourcing project in Sierra

Leone. Working side-by-side with our organic cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone, we will launch a

comprehensive Child Protection Program, as well as an extensive reforestation project. We

are looking forward to joining forces with our cocoa farmers, enabling them to develop their

communities.

To achieve our sustainability goals, we rely on strong partnerships with our customers,

suppliers, NGO’s and governments. For this reason, we are inviting you to join our initiatives.

We encourage our customers and our partners to get in touch to find out more about our

projects and to get involved. Only together, we can truly make a difference.

Gerard Versteegh

President of Tradin Organic 1

2

Topic Goals Activities

SUSTAINABLE COCOA SOURCING

Help 10,000 new farmers to

obtain organic certification and

another 10,000 farmers to

access Fairtrade certification by 2020

Expand organic farmer base worldwide

Expand Fairtrade certification in Sierra Leone

Initiate Fairtrade certification in DR Congo

TRACEABILITY & TRANSPARENCY

Register

100% of organic farmers in Sierra Leone in our new digital traceability system by early 2020

Continue to ensure organic cocoa traceability system

Implement new digital farmer and transaction registration system

SUSTAINABLE COCOA PROCESSING

Achieve

100% CARBON NEUTRALcocoa products by 2025

Improve carbon efficiency at our organic cocoa processing facility

Initiate carbon insetting program

WELL-BEING FOR COMMUNITIES

Set up 60 Farmer Field

Schools by 2020, and

help 5,000 children to go to

school by 2023

Set up Farmer Field School project

Implement Child Protection Program

HEALTHY PLANET

Help halt deforestation and

replant 20,000 trees in Sierra

Leone by 2024

Pilot deforestation monitoring system

Set up reforestation project

At Tradin Organic, we have the vision to deliver the world’s most sustainable organic

cocoa products. What this means in practice is shown in the table below. This table

presents the goals and activities of our sustainable cocoa strategy.AT A GLANCE

GLOBAL

SOURCING

OVERVIEW

Tradin Organic has a world-leading sourcing program for organic cocoa beans. Our global

team of agronomists visits our cocoa suppliers on a regular basis. These visits help us to

monitor the organic production and provide technical assistance to our cocoa farmers.

At this moment, Tradin organic sources organic cocoa beans from 10 countries of origin. In

most countries we work directly with cocoa farmers and cooperatives. Our direct relation

with these farmer cooperatives, allows us to support our farmers to implement the organic

certification, improve the quality of their cocoa beans and to boost their productivity.

Tradin Organic has a world-leading sourcing program for organic cocoa beans. Our

global team of agronomists visits our cocoa suppliers on a regular basis. These visits help us

to monitor the organic production and provide technical assistance to our cocoa

farmers.

At this moment, Tradin Organic sources organic cocoa beans mainly from 10 countries of

origin. In most countries we work directly with cocoa farmers and cooperatives. Our direct

relation with these farmer cooperatives, allows us to support our farmers to implement the

organic certification, improve the quality of their cocoa beans and to boost their

productivity.

3

Ecuador

Peru

Dominican

Republic

Haiti

Sierra Leone

Sao Tome

DR Congo

Uganda

Tanzania

Madagascar


Sierra Leone has faced many

challenges in recent history.

Internal conflict followed by

the Ebola crisis caused the

cocoa market to collapse,

leaving many cocoa farmers

with difficult access to the

world market. In 2015, Tradin

Organic started working with

these farmers to set up an

organic certified cocoa

sourcing project. We

configured a local control

system with dedicated quality

coordinators and invested in

trainings and registration for

farmers. This allowed us to

successfully pass the organic

audit and start exporting

organic cocoa in 2017. With

our organic cocoa

production in full swing, our

activities in Sierra Leone are

growing rapidly. We have our

own sourcing and exporting

office in Kenema and have

trained a team of quality

coordinators who ensure

optimal quality. For the 2018-

2019 crop, we were working

with over 35,000 organic

cocoa farmers and this

number continues to grow.

4


Ms. Sao Briama

Our first organic cocoa farmer in Sierra Leone

Sierra

Leone

OUR FIRST ORGANIC

COCOA FARMER

Ms. Sao Briama became our first

organic certified cocoa farmer

in Sierra Leone. She is optimistic

about the benefits that organic

certified cocoa is bringing to her

community.

“Cocoa is very important to me

and my family. I don’t grow any

other crop, except for some fruit.

Over the last few years, the price

that we received for our organic

cocoa has risen, so I was able to

improve my house and send one

of my daughters to university.

Next year she will graduate.”

According to Sao, all the new

houses in the village were paid

for by cocoa money. The

increased income has had a

clear effect on the community,

with the increased wealth

allowing both people and

property to develop.








Worldwide, most organic cocoa is produced by small farmers. Tradin Organic is proud to

collaborate with thousands of organic cocoa farmers who work hard to produce organic

cocoa and to provide for their families. The organic certification provides the farmers with

a higher price for their cocoa beans. Even so, our small cocoa farmers are exposed to

risks, such as climate change and fluctuating world prices, which can affect their income.

At Tradin Organic, we believe that our organic cocoa should provide benefits to our

farmers and should enable farmers to develop their communities. For this reason, we are

supporting our farmers to obtain the Fairtrade certification. Thanks to the Fairtrade

certification, our cocoa farmers receive a Fairtrade Premium, on top of the organic

premium.

Our cocoa suppliers in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru and Madagascar

have already been Fairtrade certified for some years. Over the years they have invested

their Fairtrade Premium in a range of community projects. As we are continuously

developing our sourcing projects, we are supporting our farmers in the other countries of

origin towards Fairtrade certification. During 2018, we started working on Fairtrade

certification for our organic cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone. We supported our farmers with

technical assistance and helped to pre-finance the certification fees. Six of our farmer

cooperatives in Sierra Leone are now Fairtrade certified.

5


Dominican

Republic

FAIR TRADE MAKING

AN IMPACT

Historically, the Dominican

Republic has been a frontrunner

in organic cocoa production.

Our partnership with Conacado,

a local cocoa farmer

cooperative, goes back more

than 20 years. Over the years, this

partnership has helped to bring in

substantial amounts of Fairtrade

premium money.

The farmers at Conacado have

used their Fairtrade premium

money, to invest in technical

assistance, training and improved

production practices. The

premium also helped sponsor

community projects, such as

computer labs for students in

remote communities. The

Fairtrade premium has enabled

Conacado to become a highly

professional cocoa cooperative,

which delivers benefits for the

cocoa farmers and their

communities.

Haiti

Traceability is a key requirement of the organic standard. Tradin Organic has moved

beyond this requirement to establish a fully traceable and transparent supply chain for

organic cocoa. Due to our unique sourcing network and our own processing capability, we

can offer cocoa products that can be traced back, all the way to the farmer.

TRACEABILITY IN PRACTICE - SIERRA LEONE

Our team of extension workers in Sierra Leone is responsible for registering each of our

organic cocoa farmers. Each farmer has their own individual registration number, which is

linked to their registration form. Whenever the farmer sells a bag of cocoa beans, the bag is

labelled with the farmer registration number.6


BEAN-TO-BAR

CHOCOLATE

Despite being a relatively

undiscovered cocoa origin, Haiti

produces some unique fine

flavor organic cocoa. In Haiti,

we work together with CAUD, a

small-scale local farmer

cooperative. They supply us with

organic cocoa beans, which we

process into cocoa liquor at our

own processing facility in the

Netherlands.

Each bag of organic cocoa

beans is labeled and can be

traced back to the individual

farmer. These bag numbers are

registered for each production

batch in our processing facility.

This is why our organic cocoa

liquor from Haiti is fully traceable

and very popular among craft

chocolatiers and bean-to-bar

chocolate makers.








The bag of cocoa beans is then transported to our warehouse in Kenema. At our

warehouse, some of the cocoa beans are dried (if necessary) in one of our solar driers.

After drying, the beans are prepared for export and transported to the port of Freetown.

From Freetown the beans are shipped to Amsterdam, where they are stored in a

warehouse. Upon arrival in the warehouse, the beans are still in the bag, labelled with the

registration number of the farmer.

At our warehouse, the beans are prepared for delivery to our own cocoa processing

facility, the Crown of Holland. At this point, the cocoa beans are taken out of the bags, in

order to put together a specific production batch. We carefully select the organic cocoa

beans in each batch, to match the preferences of our customer. For example, we can

prepare a batch with mixed origins, or we can prepare a single-origin batch. While

preparing the batches, the registration number of each bag is recorded. This way, we

know for each batch of finished product, which farmers grew the cocoa beans that were

used for this batch.

7

GOING

DIGITAL

Up until recently, we

registered most of the

farmer registration and

transaction data on paper.

As we work with thousands

of organic farmers, this

registration system costs a

lot of work and paper.

Therefore, we started a pilot

project in Sierra Leone, for a

digital system. Our

extension workers are

equipped with a smart-

phone app, which they use

to register farmer and

transaction data. This data

is uploaded to the cloud,

where we can store and

manage this information. In

addition to saving time and

paper, this digital system

also offers some innovative

applications. For example,

we can add photos of

farmers and map their

farms with GPS coordinates.

We aim to have all our

organic farmers in Sierra

Leone registered digitally,

before the end of 2019.

Tradin

Warehouse

Kenema

Each bag

is labelled

All farmers are

registered

Shipped from

FreetownOur own organic

processing facility Finished

Product

ORGANIC COCOA TRACEABILITY


MINIMIZING

OUR FOOTPRINT

Crown of Holland is the organic cocoa processing facility of Tradin Organic. The factory is

conveniently located in the sustainable business park, Agriport A7, 40km north of

Amsterdam. Crown of Holland specializes in processing organic cocoa beans into various

semi - finished products, such as cocoa liquor, butter, powder and nibs.

The factory uses state-of-the-art equipment, which allows us to process our organic cocoa in

an efficient manner. Crown of Holland is continuously working to improve the efficiency of

the processing lines, in order to further reduce the footprint of our cocoa products.

8

SUSTAINABLE

LOCATION

Crown of Holland is

located in the sustainable

business park Agriport A7,

just 30 minutes north of

Amsterdam.

The business park is home

to multiple sustainable

agri-food companies that

work together to make

the business park more

sustainable with constant

improvements of the

infrastructure and

facilities. Agriport 7 is

promoting initiatives to

store CO2, utilize residual

heat, separate waste

materials for recycling,

etc.









OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

There are several steps in the cocoa processing procedure that require heat. Our

processing line uses natural gas for generating the necessary thermal energy. In addition,

our processing line needs electricity to operate. Our consumption of natural gas and

electricity are the most important contributors to our carbon footprint. At Crown of

Holland, we carefully monitor the carbon efficiency of our factory and we try to reduce

our emissions for as far as possible.

In the graph above, we calculate the carbon efficiency of our cocoa processing facility

as kilograms of CO2 emitted per kilogram of finished product. In 2017, we achieved an

improvement of our carbon efficiency, reducing our emissions per kg of finished products,

in comparison to the previous year. We managed to consolidate this carbon efficiency

gain in 2018. Early 2018, we opened a brand-new second processing line at Crown of

Holland. During the start-up phase of this new line, we experienced a temporary decline

of our carbon efficiency. After the start-up phase, the performance of our new production

line improved considerably. We expect to see further improvements in 2019.

We are aiming to achieve net carbon neutral cocoa processing by 2025. We want to

reach this goal by cutting the carbon emissions per kg of finished product by another 30%.

In addition, we are working on a carbon insetting program, which should start in 2019. This

program should allow us to offset the entire carbon footprint of our cocoa processing

facility, by planting thousands of trees at our cocoa sourcing project in Sierra Leone.

9

SOLAR

PANELS

ON THE

ROOF

The roof of our cocoa

processing facility is

equipped with solar

panels.

These solar panels

provide electricity for

the offices of the facility.

This renewable source of

electricity helps us to

reduce our carbon

footprint.


0.30 0.29 0.290.27

0.20

2016 2017 2018 2019 2025

Net Carbon Emissions kg of CO2 per kg of finished product

-0.20

2025CO2 neutral

10

Cocoa farming in Sierra Leone has been picking up again in recent years. Due to the

internal conflict and the Ebola crisis, most cocoa plantations were left unattended for a long

time and few investments were made in the plantations. As farmers are now returning to

their plantations, most cocoa plantations are old and have low productivity levels. Tradin

Organic is committed to support organic cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone to upgrade their

plantations and boost their productivity. To this end, we launched a large-scale Farmer Field

School project in Sierra Leone. These Farmer Field Schools provide training for farmers on

organic production principles and support them with organic and Fairtrade certification. The

trainings cover various organic agricultural practices, such as pruning and under-brushing.

As part of the Farmer Field Schools, we will also establish a couple of test farms, where we

can do field trials on organic production methods. For example, we will do trials to control

the black pod disease. The test farms will be used during the farmer training, to show the

impact of certain organic production practices. In addition to the farmer trainings, we will

also establish nurseries. These nurseries will grow cocoa seedlings. These seedlings will be

handed out to farmers, as an additional bonus payment for their cocoa. The farmers can

use these seedlings to rejuvenate their plantations.

Our Farmer Field School project started in November 2018. For this project we are working

together with AgDevCo and Solidaridad West Africa. Currently, we have 67 operational

farmer field schools, with about 100 farmers per school. We aim to set up an additional 50

Farmer Field Schools in 2019.

FARMER FIELD SCHOOLS IN SIERRA LEONE

DR Congo

TRAINING FARMERS

IN EASTERN CONGO

Cocoa is a crucial source of

income for organic cocoa

formers in the Eastern Congo. In

recent years, farmers in this

region have faced serious

shocks, including armed conflict

and a recent Ebola outbreak.

Organic cocoa provides one of

the few stable sources of income

in this region. This is why our local

partner is providing training and

technical assistance to the

farmers.

The training helps the farmers to

improve their organic production

practices and boost the

productivity of their farms. The

farmers receive seedlings to help

them rejuvenate their

plantations by planting new

cocoa trees. The training

program also enables the

farmers to plant other species of

trees, like fruit trees or timber. This

helps to provide shade for the

cocoa trees, as well an

additional source of income for

the farmers.

HELPING TO

KEEP CHILDREN

IN SCHOOL








Despite global efforts to eradicate child labor, it remains a reality within agriculture in many

countries. In most cases, poverty of rural households and lack of access to quality education

are the main causes contributing to child labor. As Tradin Organic sources its ingredients

around the globe, we are aware that some of our organic farming communities may be at

risk of child labor.

For this reason, Tradin Organic launched a new Child Protection Program for our cocoa

farming communities in Sierra Leone. Starting in March 2019, the program represents the next

big leap in our efforts to eradicate child labor and is an addition to the work that we are

already doing to help address this issue. Initially, this Child Protection Program will focus on our

cocoa supply chain in Sierra Leone, allowing us to create a blueprint that we can expand to

other supply chains.

11

CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAM

12

At Tradin Organic we believe that our

organic sourcing projects should be

pivotal in helping farming communities

eradicate child labor.

Over the past years, we have already

set up a range of initiatives to further

those efforts.

First of all, our Supplier Code of

Conduct strictly forbids our suppliers to

use child labor. Secondly, we work with

certification programs, such as

Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, etc., to

help guarantee that our suppliers have

child labor prevention policies in place.

On top of to these certifications, we

have developed different community

projects to promote child protection.

With our new Child Protection

Program, we are taking the next leap

to help prevent child labor on our

organic cocoa farms in Sierra Leone.

Going beyond the Fairtrade

certification, our project aims to

enable our cocoa farming

communities to address poverty and

access to education, in order to

protect children and keep them in

school.

WORKING

TOGETHER WITH

FARMERS AND

COMMUNITIES









The first step of our Child Protection Program is to carry out a baseline study. This baseline

study is currently underway and should be finished by September 2019. The aim of this study is

to understand the breadth of child labor within cocoa production in Sierra Leone and to help

identify the key contributing factors leading to this issue. The findings of our study will allow us

to shape the work with our cocoa farming communities to help them prevent child labor.

After completing our baseline study, we will work together with our cocoa farming

communities to set up a continuous monitoring and remediation system. This will help us to

monitor any communities that are at risk of child labor and to develop projects to help

prevent child labor in these communities. These community projects will address the

underlying causes of child labor, such as poverty and lack of access to education. Working

together with our cocoa farming communities, we will help prevent child labor and keep

children in school. Our monitoring and remediation system should be launched by early 2020.

For our Child Protection Program, we rely on partnerships with different government

institutions, as well as local and international NGO’s. Only by working together can we

address the underlying causes of child labor and eradicate this problem for good. We invite

our customers and partners to get involved in our fight to prevent child labor.

13

STEP 1:

BASELINE STUDY

STEP 2:MONITORING,

REMEDIATION &

COMMUNUTY

PROJECTS


14

Cocoa production in West Africa is often

linked to deforestation. Tradin Organic

believes that regenerative organic

agroforestry has the potential to stop

deforestation and can actually spark

reforestation. Cocoa plantations that apply

regenerative agroforestry can boost

biodiversity and draw down significant

amounts of carbon. Our vision is that

replanting trees and organic cocoa

cultivation, can actually draw down enough

carbon to offset the entire carbon footprint of

our organic cocoa products. By handing out

seedlings and training our farmers, we can

promote reforestation and deliver climate

positive chocolate to our customers.

In 2019, Tradin Organic will launch an

extensive reforestation program, starting with

our cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone. Our

sourcing area in Sierra Leone is close to the

Gola Forest National Park. This unique

protected area is home to a variety of

endangered endemic species.

As cocoa is becoming an increasingly

important source of income in Sierra Leone,

there may be an incentive to clear plots of

rainforest to establish new plantations.

Clearing more forest in our sourcing area

could potentially threaten the Gola Forest

protected area.

PUTTING A HALT TO

DEFORESTATION

REPLANTING THE FOREST

THE BENEFITS OF

ORGANIC &

REGENERATIVE

In 2018, we worked together

with Soil & More to do a True

Cost study on our organic

cocoa. This study showed that

the impact on the

environment of organic cocoa

production is lower than

conventional (non-organic)

production.

In addition, the study shows

that regenerative organic

production practices have the

potential to create vital

benefits for the environment.

Regenerative practices can

help to sequester more

carbon, boost soil health and

foster biodiversity. Potentially,

these practices can offset the

negative impacts of organic

cocoa production and

actually create a net benefit

to nature.








The priority of our reforestation project is to prevent further deforestation and to help replant

thousands of trees. By establishing a smart regenerative agroforestry system, our farmers can

improve the yield of their cocoa plantations. This would help to eliminate the incentive to

clear new plots of land. In addition, the agroforestry system will introduce a variety of crops

on the plantations (food crops, shade trees, etc.), which promotes biodiversity while enabling

our farmers to diversify their income and boost their food security. Moreover, a well-

developed regenerative agroforestry system will boost carbon sequestration and help

combat climate change.

As a first step of our reforestation project, we will start by mapping the existing organic cocoa

farmers, using our digital traceability system. We can use the GPS data on the farms, in order

to monitor and prevent further deforestation from happening. At the same time, we will

initiate a reforestation project, which aims to replant thousands of trees. This will be achieved

through establishing nurseries, which will hand out seedlings to farmers. In addition, we will

train our farmers on regenerative organic agroforestry. We are planning to launch our

reforestation project in Sierra Leone towards the end of 2019. We envision this project as a

test-case, which can later be replicated for other supply chains.

15

REPLANTING THE FOREST

Peru

PRESERVING THE

RAINFOREST

In Peru, organic cocoa farmers

are helping to replant the

rainforest. Our partnership with

Acopagro, a local cooperative,

goes back more than two

decades. This cooperative

supports their farmers with high-

level technical expertise,

enabling their farmers to

professionalize their organic

cocoa production.

Their latest project addresses the

topic of deforestation. For many

years, farmers in Peru have used

traditional slash-and-burn

methods to clear plots of

rainforest to make way for new

plantations. Acopagro and its

farmers initiated an advanced

agroforestry project, which is

actually helping to replant trees

on existing plantations. This

approach is boosting cocoa

production, while helping to

preserve the rainforest.

Copyright © 2019 Tradin Organic, All rights reserved.

Tradin Organic Agriculture B.V.Stationsplein 61 - 65

1012AB Amsterdam, [email protected]

WWW.TRADINORGANIC.COM

https://www.linkedin.com/company/124628/

https://www.facebook.com/tradinorganic

https://twitter.com/tradinorganic

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4IVptIGUmItI0RJpDXS2_g

http://www.tradinorganic.com/

Cocoa Sustainability Report - Tradin Organic...cocoa market to collapse, leaving many cocoa farmers...

Documents

Transcript of Cocoa Sustainability Report - Tradin Organic...cocoa market to collapse, leaving many cocoa farmers...