The Plan provides concrete actions the company is taking to achieve 100 percent cocoa bean traceability. It includes a commitment of “No Further Conversion” of any forest land in Ghana and Ivory Coast for cocoa production.

A statement from the Cargill, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the plan expanded the company’s forest efforts to five origin countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Ghana) as well as the indirect cocoa supply chain, while securing the future livelihoods and resilience of smallholder cocoa farmers.

Quoting Harold Poelma, the Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate President, the statement said: “We recognise there is considerable urgency to address climate and deforestation challenges. This means engaging in programs to stop deforestation in the countries from which we source cocoa.”

In October 2017, Cargill introduced five sustainability goals for a thriving and sustainable cocoa sector, aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it said. “Protect Our Planet, which will be implemented in five origin countries where Cargill sources cocoa and throughout the company’s indirect supply chain, outlines how the company will achieve those goals and eliminate deforestation from its supply chain by 2030,” it stated.

On supply chain transparency, the statement said Cargill intended to achieve 100 per cent cocoa bean traceability through the mapping of its entire cocoa supply chain, using GPS and polygon farm mapping globally, to identify the exact location of the farms and accurately assess farm size.

“Cargill is integrating environmental protection projects into its Cocoa Promise program. This includes expanding existing programmes related to growing more cocoa on less land, economics and labour issues to include agroforestry, and conservation,” it said.

On supplier engagement, it said the company was committed to managing the risk of deforestation not only in the Cargill Cocoa Promise supply chain, but also within indirect cocoa and chocolate ingredient supply chains, which included raising standards for third-party suppliers to advance their own transparency and build their capacity to address common challenges.

The statement said the journey towards sustainable business practices was far greater than the interests of any one company, adding that last year, Cargill consigned the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI) alongside 34 other chocolate and cocoa companies, the World Cocoa Foundation, and the Sustainable Trade Initiative to achieve a fair and secure cocoa supply.

It added that Cargill has committed to reporting annually to all its stakeholders, including customers, CFI, Non-Governmental Organisations and others. “By sharing progress and learnings with stakeholders around the globe, participants in the cocoa supply chain and beyond can learn from each other on this journey to end deforestation,” the statement said.

 Cargill employs 155,000 employees across 70 countries, having been around for 153 years. It partners food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in 125 countries.