Sustainability

Divine Chocolate releases Impact Report 2021, partners with HALBA to further boost climate resilience

28-Apr-2022 - Last updated on 28-Apr-2022 at 10:42 GMT

Divine Chocolate supports sustainable livelihoods for its Kuapa Kokoo farmers. Pic: Divine Chocolate

Divine Chocolate, the only Fairtrade and B Corp certified chocolate company to be co-owned by cocoa farmers, has said it has strengthened farmer empowerment initiatives and has joined multi-stakeholder Agroforestry project with HALBA in Switzerland.

The news was announced alongside the release of its 2021 Impact report, where Divine Chocolate described how it has enabled farmers to build sustainable livelihoods in partnership with four farmer cooperatives in Africa. Highlights of the Impact Report include:

Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in Ghana (who grow the high quality cocoa that makes Divine Chocolate ) enrolled 246 learners in its Adult Literacy and Numeracy Programme and signed 597 tenancy agreements to safeguard the rights of tenant farmers.
10,000 cocoa seedlings produced and 10,000 graftings carried out with 110 women in 20 communities trained in cocoa grafting at CECAQ-11 Cocoa Cooperative in São Tomé.
The first 20 tonnes of Forest-Friendly, Fairtrade cocoa exported by Ngoleagorbu Cocoa Farmers’ Union (NGOCFU) in Sierra Leone for production of Divine Chocolate.
First profits from the Namatchuwa maize mill disbursed to women farmers of the Kasinthula Cane Growers’ Association so they could start small businesses.

In 2021, Divine also launched a bold new campaign ‘Delicious Chocolate Fighting Exploitation,’ to cast a light on critical challenges faced by cocoa farmers while inviting consumers and retailers to join its revolution to tackle exploitation in the cocoa industry.

Cord Budde, Group CEO, Divine Chocolate and Ludwig Weinrich GmbH & Co, said: “Chocolate is something that brings us great pleasure and provides solace and energy in difficult times. At the same time, we also need to recognise the human and environmental exploitation that is rife in the global cocoa trade system. Divine is a chocolate brand that actively assumes responsibility and shows that a different chocolate world is possible.”

Dynamic agroforestry

Building on the past year’s achievements, Divine Chocolate said it is proud to join hands with HALBA, a leading producer of Swiss chocolate, to support sustainable livelihoods for Kuapa Kokoo farmers through a multi-stakeholder approach that promotes income diversification, climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.

The project supports dynamic agroforestry – a nature-based farming system that combines a wide variety of trees alongside crops allowing farmers to grow diverse food staples like yam, maize and cassava, alongside cocoa and bananas.

Divine Chocolate is financing seeds for annual crops for 120 farmers within 30 hectares designated for Dynamic Agroforestry with the aim of enhancing soil fertility and biodiversity, as well as raising food security and farmer income.