Nestlé and ofi are stepping up their efforts to create a more sustainable future for cocoa production
Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company and ofi (Olam Food Ingredients), a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients and solutions, are launching their largest-ever joint cocoa agroforestry partnership to reduce carbon emissions and combat deforestation.
As the cocoa industry faces the dual challenges of rising demand and increased environmental pressures, Nestlé and ofi are stepping up their efforts to create a more sustainable future for cocoa production.
Spanning Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Brazil, approximately 25,000 farmers will be supported in transitioning to climate-smart farming, over 5 years in each country, by implementing agroforestry and crop residue management. These activities will be monitored until 2055, with ofi’s carbon footprinting experts estimating they can cut carbon emissions by 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 30 years.
The project aims to cultivate more than 72,000 hectares of agroforestry, as part of a transition to regenerative agriculture. This includes planting an estimated 2.8 million trees, which will be 3rd party verified, from the nursery to the farm. The baselines for these activities have been established using ofi’s AI-powered Carbon Stock Monitoring tool and will be used continuously to track the geolocation of the trees and that they are growing to comply with the objectives set out by Nestlé and ofi.
