SINGAPORE – Olam International has announced that it has achieved 100% traceability of its sustainable cocoa supply chain in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and has committed to end deforestation in its entire global cocoa supply chain.
The company said it is on track to achieve full traceability of its direct origination supply chain worldwide by 2020.
The commitment is part of Olam’s Living Landscapes Policy (LLP), a cross-commodity sustainability policy that seeks to promote the co-existence of prosperous farmers and thriving communities with healthy ecosystems.
The policy applies across products and covers Olam’s plantations and farms, as well as its third-party sourcing network of more than 4 million small and large-scale farmers.
Olam is implementing the program in partnership with its customers with a focus on three key areas: forest protection and restoration; sustainable production and farmer livelihoods; and social inclusion and community engagement.
The agribusiness firm aims to achieve 100% traceable cocoa volumes from its global, direct origination supply chain by 2020.
It has further scaled up its range of digital mapping tools with the use of the Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS) which records sustainability data such as bag-level traceability, training activities, labour and agricultural practices.
The Action Plan
The initiatives include a commitment to support the restoration and preservation of 460,000 hectares of forest classes in Cote d’Ivoire.
Olam has mapped 100% of its supplier network in Ghana with plans to use the data in identifying suppliers perceived to be in areas of highest forest risk by the end of 2019.
In addition to training 104,000 cocoa farmers in Good Agricultural Practices in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, Olam said plans are underway to distribute almost 1.2 million multi-purpose shade trees in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and 2 million improved cocoa seedlings to farmers in Ghana.
“This is a landmark moment for combating the complex issue of deforestation in West Africa and supporting a sustainable livelihood for millions of cocoa farmers,” said Arouna Coulibaly, Business Head Olam Cocoa, Côte d’Ivoire.
Olam Cocoa has already achieved 100% traceability from individual farms to first purchase point in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and has mapped its entire supplier network in Ghana to be able to identify deforestation risk hotspots.
We are pushing ourselves even further by aiming to map Cote d’Ivoire and other countries by the end of 2019.”
To date 143,000 farms and 180,000 hectares of cocoa farmland have been mapped and 57,396 cocoa farmers have been issued with tailored Farm Development Plans.
Olam Cocoa has GPS mapped 100% of its supplier network in Ghana and expects to have completed mapping in Côte d’Ivoire and other countries by the end of 2019.
In Ghana, Olam Cocoa has partnered with Rainforest Alliance to implement a Partnership for Livelihoods and Forest Landscape Management programme to conserve forests.
