The Cocoa Horizons programme aims at improving the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their communities through the promotion of sustainable, entrepreneurial farming, improved productivity, and community development and in Nigeria, it will be focused on Ondo and Cross River states.
Adriaan Verbeke, managing director of Barry Callebaut Nigeria, said the company is committed to continuing to support cocoa farmers in every Nigerian region and rewarding them for their sustainable cocoa activities.
He also said there are plans to extend Cocoa Horizons to farmers in other regions of Nigeria in the upcoming 2022-2023 season starting in October 2022.
Currently present in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Brazil, Indonesia, Ecuador, and now Nigeria, Cocoa Horizons continues to work closely with local farmers on strategies to improve their yields, shun cocoa farming activities in forest reserves and protected zones and support the ‘Zero Child Labour’ programmes.
Recently over 1,000 farmers in Akure and Ikom in Nigeria, the third largest cocoa exporter after Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, participated in an awareness creation training programme addressing critical child labour issues.