Executive Summary This year, the Tony’s Open Chain community grew stronger and reached further than ever before. In 2024/25, we welcomed thousands more cocoa farmers into our network, sourced record volumes of cocoa and deepened our partnerships with cooperatives and Mission Allies. Every step we took was guided by our shared commitment to the 5 Sourcing Principles (traceability, paying a higher price, building long-term relationships, supporting strong farmers, and improving quality and productivity). For a whistle-stop tour covering the key sections of our report, read on! • Despite a shifting industry, the 3 big issues in cocoa persist. Although regulatory developments are requiring companies to implement greater levels of due diligence across their supply chains, and although there have been massive leaps forward in sector-collaboration and rights-holder visibility 1 , the key issues in cocoa have not changed: most cocoa farmers still struggle to earn a living income, child labour remains widespread, and deforestation rates in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana continue at alarming rates. As an industry, we are running far behind on achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and we need to push harder to accelerate change. • So how can we shift the industry faster? By increasing the volume of cocoa sourced using the 5 Sourcing Principles. The higher this volume, the deeper the investments in farmers’ livelihoods that can be made. As volumes increase, more cocoa-growing families
Chain: we were created to enable collective action together with other cocoa-sourcing companies. We know we don’t have all the answers, and we’re always open to learning from our peers. Anyone can join the commitment to source their cocoa in accordance with the 5 Sourcing Principles. If you’re interested, we’d love to hear from you! • The (Business) Case for Tony’s Open Chain: Ethical sourcing – via the 5 Sourcing Principles – is not only morally right but also commercially viable. We highlight key aspects that make Tony’s Open Chain a smart choice: supply chain security through long- term relationships and farmer loyalty, a focus on productivity, which will drive higher yields and secure the long-term success of the cocoa industry, and a long-term strategic approach which focuses on addressing the root causes of issues like child labour, rather than symptoms. Our child labour remediation costs are generally low (ranging from €40 to €253 per case in Côte d’Ivoire and €82 to €196 per case in Ghana), thanks to early detection through frequent monitoring. Most cases involve younger children, for whom support like birth certificates, school kits and bicycles, along with access to primary education, is relatively inexpensive. In contrast, older children often need vocational training, which is more costly. Early intervention not only lowers costs and complexity but also helps prevent long-term harm. • Scaling for change: Tony’s Open Chain grew significantly in 2024/25– across the number of farmers that delivered cocoa to our Mission Allies (32,133: 58% more than last season), cocoa volumes sourced (26,843 metric tons: 52% more), partner cooperatives engaged (22: 8 more, increasing our network by 57% compared to last season), and
Mission Allies onboarded (2: bringing them to 22 in total). More broadly, we reached 2 33,427 cocoa farmers through shared programmes, the equivalent of around 1.3% of West African cocoa farmers (compared with 0.98% last season). We still have a long way to go, but we are making great strides. In the coming year, our focus will be on strengthening our existing partnerships and growing our impact mindfully, prioritising depth over breadth. • Living income : Enabling a living income for cocoa farmers remains a key challenge and focus. Our living income analysis showed that an estimated 40.6% of farmers at our 3 longest-term partner cooperatives earned at or above the living income benchmark this year (a significant increase since last year, when it was 19.1%). Whilst this is great progress, driven by higher farmgate prices and premiums, it also means that 59.4% of farmers are still earning below the benchmark. Higher farmgate prices are a welcome development for improving cocoa farmers’ incomes, but to truly enable cocoa farmers to invest in their farms and build a sustainable future, higher farmgate prices must be maintained over time. This starts with committing to paying, at a minimum, a Living Income Reference Price (LIRP), for the long term. This report outlines our updated 2050 living income vision, focusing on higher prices, improved productivity, resilience-building and targeted support to help more cocoa farmers reach and sustain a living income. 1. Fountain, Antonie C., and Friedel Huetz-Adams. 2025 Cocoa Barometer . VOICE Network, Oct. 2025. 2. The number of farmers that were reached by Tony’s Open Chain programmes in 2024/25 (KPI 1.2) was higher than the number of farmers that delivered cocoa this season (KPI 1.1). For full definitions of the KPIs, see Interesting Appendices .
benefit from child labour monitoring and deforestation prevention. As the enabling
environment for progress expands, it speeds up progress overall. Accelerating change at the speed that we want to see it is only possible if the industry acts together. That’s why we are called Tony’s Open
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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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