As part of measures to improve the livelihoods of farmers in cocoa communities, Nestlé Ghana, with its Create Share Value (CSV), has partnered the International Cocoa Initiative and the World Cocoa Foundation to tackle the issue of child labour and improve cocoa farming.

The project, christened the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, is aimed at improving the lives of cocoa farmers, especially women by assisting them increase their profits while ensuring the sustainability of the cocoa business in the West African sub-region.

The plan also seeks to tackle issues such as gender inequality and poor social conditions in cocoa growing areas.

Ms Ama Amoah, Head of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs Manager, Nestlé Ghana, in an engagement with the parliamentary press corps during a working visit to the Tema factory, explained that over 14,000 people from farming communities in the Eastern and Ashanti regions had benefited from the construction of three schools and eight boreholes.

Nestlé has also built Village Resource Centres (VRCs) in some cocoa-growing areas in their target countries under the plan.

The centres are equipped with child-friendly software and internet access to boost ICT education in the beneficiary communities. The initiative, which was initially launched in Côte d'Ivoire in 2009 and replicated in 2014 in Ghana with the objective of sourcing 175,000 tonnes of cocoa by 2018, has witnessed an unmatched success.

According to Ms Amoah, Nestlé has also distributed over 6.75 million high-yield cocoa plantlets to farmers in La Côte d’Ivoire as part of the plan.