McLean, Va., Nov 04, 2008 - Mars, Incorporated announced today that 250 delegates from 14 West and Central African countries along with cocoa industry leaders have finalized a first-ever sustainable cocoa farming plan for Africa.
Endorsed by Ghana President John Agyekum Kufuor, finance, agriculture and commerce ministers from 14 African nations, scientists, farmers, NGO donor organizations and other experts, the plan is designed to help cocoa farmers significantly increase their income by growing trees that are higher quality, more resistant to disease and drought, and consume fewer natural resources.
According to the participants, this is the first inter-governmental pledge of its kind and is of enormous significance to the more than two million cocoa farmers in Africa, where 70 percent of the world's cocoa is grown.
"The need to transform and modernize our agriculture practices has never been greater," said Ghana President John Agyekum Kufuor. "I look forward to leading the effort to implement the new consensus plan, one which helps our farmers not only survive, but flourish under the challenging economic situation we face currently. It is my hope that the sustainable cocoa plan will serve as a model for other commodities farmers in Ghana and throughout Africa."
The Mars-sponsored symposium was hosted by the Government of Ghana in collaboration with the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL), and co-sponsored by the governments of Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Togo. The meeting, entitled "Theobroma Cacao: The Tree of Change," was the third in a biennial series sponsored by Mars. Previous meetings were held in conjunction with The National Academies; however the latest was the first held in partnership with the African Science Academies. The event brought to center stage the role of science towards a sustainable regional and world cocoa economy, which includes sustainable cocoa production, socio-economic development through more profitable incomes for farmers, and ensures that the right environmental foundation remains in place to meet tomorrow's demand.
"The consensus plan will have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of cocoa farmers throughout Africa," said G.Y. Gyan-Balfour, Ghana's Deputy Minister of Finance. "The measures and infrastructure we have committed to should make it possible for farmers to increase their cocoa production in the near future, and will ensure that cocoa can be farmed from these lands for generations to come. The potential benefit to cocoa farmers is great, and will help strengthen families and communities throughout the region."
The 30-year vision for the cocoa industry identifies specific steps necessary to achieve its goals, including:
-- Create avenues for the effective transfer of scientific information,technology and funding
-- Establish systems that make advances in cocoa science easily adaptableon the farmer level
-- Provide information channels that will reach farmers with pertinentupdates on current market prices
-- Government collaboration to ensure farmers get a greater portion of the price for cacao
-- Integrate research outcomes into vastly expanded extension services
developed in innovative, community-based and scalable ways
-- Utilize generated incomes for improved social services and environmental rehabilitation
-- Put into place public and private sector services to support multifunctional agriculture
The projected outcomes from implementing the new consensus plan include:
-- Thriving rural communities based on increased entrepreneurial activities building on improved infra-structure, trade, nutrition/health and education
-- Recognition of African producers by chocolate manufacturers and consumers as consistently producing high quality cocoa
-- Transformation of cocoa farming from subsistence to entrepreneurial models leading to diversification within the agriculture value chains and beyond
-- Income of cocoa farming households far surpassing the Millennium Development Goal targets through increased productivity and diversification of income streams
-- Cocoa landscapes with mosaics of land use integrating forests, agroforests and intensified cropping systems in 50 percent of the cocoa belt in Africa
"Mars is proud of our long history as the global leader in cocoa research and the contribution we continue to make to advancing cocoa science," said Howard-Yana Shapiro, Global Plant Scientist, Mars, Incorporated. "For the first time, we have built consensus among the key stakeholders that cocoa farming in Africa must move to a more sustainable model.
"For decades, Mars has been at the forefront of forging unique public-private partnerships that create new social, economic and environmental opportunities for the millions of farmers throughout the tropics who depend on cocoa for their livelihood. This is a quantum leap forward in working towards poverty elimination, renewing the fabric of the rural sector and stabilizing the lives of West African cocoa farmers."