I have been working with Tony’s Open Chain since I joined the cooperative in 2020. What we appreciate most in this partnership is that Tony’s has a clear vision. Yes, they are passionate about cocoa beans, but beyond that, they care deeply about human rights. They connect both the raw material and the people who produce it. The main mission of Tony’s is to have a cocoa industry with 0% exploitation. That goal has deeply inspired us and transformed us, especially in the way we think about human relationships in business. It’s not a business where the one who produces must be crushed while the one who transforms always prospers. With Tony’s, discussions are open, honest, and everyone’s point of view counts. For a long time, we have been striving to achieve a living income for farmers. That necessarily depends on productivity. But climate change has already taken its toll: cocoa orchards in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have suffered, and the trees are aging. Although the current cocoa price is acceptable, producers have lived in extreme poverty for a long time. Even if the price increased from 2,000 to 5,000 CFA, it would still feel like starting from zero and that wears them down. We appreciate the existing premiums paid by our partners, especially Tony’s Open Chain, but we would like to see an additional one, a landscape premium introduced in Côte d’Ivoire, as it already exists in Latin America and the Caribbean. We know great efforts have already been made and efforts will continue to be made.
Evaluating partner cooperatives…and ourselves Building stronger systems takes time, effort and investment in new processes. We recognise that, just as we learn how we can improve year-on-year, partner cooperatives have a similar experience. We support them along this journey. This season, we introduced a new evaluation process to better understand how partner cooperatives are developing – and how effectively we’re supporting them along the way. The evaluation considers key aspects of the 5 Sourcing Principles, including the number of households visited under the CLMRS, the status of child labour cases (open or remediated) and the presence of any active deforestation cases. It also reviews whether BeanTracker entries are properly recorded and how the governance of a cooperative is functioning to ensure member voices are heard. The process offered valuable learning for both sides and reinforced our belief that the coming years should focus on strengthening existing partnerships. By bolstering cooperative systems and expanding cocoa sourcing within these partnerships, we can create more lasting impact and reach more cocoa farmers over time. As part of this process, we asked Adama Fofana, Director at our partner cooperative ECOJAD, what the key advantages and challenges of working together have been.
Adama Fofana, Director of ECOJAD
Want to know more about what a typical day in the life of a cooperative manager might look like, during the busiest time of year: harvest season? Read his story on the next pages .
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Ending exploitation in cocoa together
Living income
Climate, environment & productivity
Human rights
Governance & finances
Interesting appendices
Scaling for change
Introduction
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