PARTNERSHIP WITH OLAM TO CREATE LARGEST SUSTAINABLE COMMERCIAL COCOA FARM

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Today we are excited to announce a new collaboration with Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), a leading supplier of cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients, to create the world’s single largest sustainable commercial cocoa farm in Indonesia. The model builds on our experience with our signature sustainable sourcing program, Cocoa Life, and OFI’s ambition for sustainable cocoa, Cocoa Compass, to test a scalable approach for the future of commercial cocoa farming.

From sensors in fields to irrigation systems, the project will use advanced climate smart and plant science technology – rarely used to grow cocoa at this scale – as innovations included in this 2,000-hectare cocoa farm on Seram, the largest island in Maluku province in Indonesia. The model tests a modernized and professional blueprint for best practice cocoa farming, optimal land usage and farming community planning which will be explored as a potential model for replication across the region.

The partnership aims to deliver:

• The creation of 700 jobs for local residents in an area which has limited income opportunities due to its isolated location. Nearly half of these employment opportunities will go to women.
• 2,000 hectares of previously deforested brown field land, which will be planted with cocoa, shade trees, forest and fruit trees to promote biodiversity and carbon capture. More than 1,080 hectares have already been planted across the total plantation area of 3,380 hectares.
• An area of 47 hectares which has been identified as High Conservation Value forest and is being fully protected as a vital habitat for flora and fauna.
• A seedling nursery which can grow up to one million high-yielding cocoa seedlings each year.
• Access to healthcare and education for all employees and their families, as well as housing, electricity, water, day care for the 200 families who live on site.

Quentin Roach, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain & Chief Procurement Officer, Mondelēz International comments: “As one of the world’s leading chocolate makers, we’re on a mission to make cocoa right and to secure a sustainable future for an ingredient essential to our business. With nine years of measurable impact demonstrating improved farmer’s livelihoods and reduced environmental impact of cocoa farming through our signature sustainable sourcing program, Cocoa Life, we’re excited to leverage our know-how in a collaborative approach to sustainable raw material sourcing with a geographically customized solution. Creating opportunities to innovate, in partnership with our suppliers, and exploring the ability to scale high-yielding, forest-positive, income-generating approaches to commercial cocoa farming on the single largest farm of its kind offers attractive potential and is an important step forward on our journey to lead the future of a sustainable and resilient cocoa supply. This initiative sits alongside Mondelez International’s existing Cocoa Life program in Indonesia and our cocoa crop science technical center in Pasuruan, established to support sustainable cocoa farming practices and drive positive change for farmers and communities in the region”.

For more information, please read the press release.