IVORY COAST – The Hershey Company (Hershey’s), one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world, has launched its Income Accelerator in Ivory Coast to support increased incomes for cocoa farming households through the provision of cash transfers (CTs) and investments in village savings and loan associations (VSLAs).
The program is designed and implemented with input from the Conseil du Café-Cacao, the Rainforest Alliance, and CARE.
The American multinational company noted that the Income Accelerator offers a proven, multi-faceted approach to help address cocoa farmer poverty while also supporting sustainable farming practices and mitigating the risk of child labor.
“The Income Accelerator is part of Hershey’s long-term commitment to make a real difference in the lives of cocoa farmers and their children,” said Jason Reiman, Chief Supply Chain Officer at The Hershey Company.
“We are proud to begin this important initiative in collaboration with the government of Côte d’Ivoire and our NGO partners. Together, we can support better livelihoods for farming households and ensure bright futures for cocoa-growing communities.”
The VSLAs provide members, particularly women and single mothers, a local structure for increasing savings and accessing loans at low-interest rates in farming communities where formal banking and micro-financing services are scarce.
As part of the Income Accelerator, Hershey, in partnership with the Rainforest Alliance will distribute mobile cash transfers of up to US$600 per household per year to approximately 5,000 cocoa farming households within its supply chain.
The CTs, which will offer an additional source of income for households, will be based on the adoption of sustainable and regenerative farm management practices that increase farm profitability and resiliency to unexpected environmental circumstances.
In addition, Hershey also plans to strengthen approximately 200 existing Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in its supply chain and establish another 350 new VSLAs with the support of CARE and cocoa farmer cooperatives. The 550 VSLAs will support an estimated 15,000 members and their families.
“Low producer income is a root cause of child labor and deforestation. We support this Income Accelerator program because the issue of producer income is at the heart of our concerns,” said Yves Brahima Koné, Managing Director at Conseil du Café-Cacao.
Through combined efforts, the program aims to yield meaningful incremental savings per participant within three years of them becoming a VSLA member.
The Income Accelerator is expected to positively impact no fewer than 20,000 households within Hershey’s supply chain and related communities.
To measure and evaluate progress, the chocolate manufacturers will leverage tools and expertise provided by a Learning Advisory Committee that includes Sustainable Food Lab and is chaired by the Conseil du Café-Cacao.
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