Making better cocoa begins with improving the lives of the people who grow it.
We train farmers in better agricultural practices, distribute higher-yielding cocoa trees, promote gender equality, address instances of child labour and develop long-term relationships with farmer groups.
Key locations
Our Journey
1990's
Nestlé begins detailed research into failing cacao tree productivity, in a bid to help producers.
2000's
The "Fine Cocoa Programme" begins preliminary work in Ecuador and Venezuela to support cocoa growing communities.
This lays the groundwork for the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
2002
Nestlé partners with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene in rural communities in the Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.
2009
The Nestlé Cocoa Plan is launched.
Nestlé opens a Research and Development (R&D) centre in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire as a base in West Africa.
2011
The Nestlé Cocoa Plan expands to Indonesia.
2012
The R&D centre in Abidjan begins distributing one-million high-yield plantlets each year.
Nestlé becomes the first company in the industry to establish a comprehensive supply chain approach to tackling child labour: the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS).
2013
The Nestlé Cocoa Plan launches in the US market. Toll House in the US becomes 100% supplied by the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
2015
Nestlé achieves 100% sustainable cocoa supply in the UK and Ireland.
2016
KitKat becomes the first brand to procure 100% Nestlé Cocoa Plan certified cocoa beans for global production.
2017
The Nestlé Cocoa Plan releases the ground-breaking Tackling Child Labour Report.
Separately, an independent report names Nestlé as the chocolate company doing the most to address the issue.
2018
Nestlé completes its commitment to distribute 12 million cocoa tree seedlings – a year earlier than planned.
Our Ambitions
Better Farming: making cocoa more profitable for farmers.
Better Lives: eliminating child labour from our supply chain.
Better Cocoa: improving the transparency of our supply chain and the quality of our cocoa.
Our Progress
Better Farming
114
k
Farmers covered by the Nestlé Cocoa Plan
Better Lives
51
%
Reduction in child labour in our supply chain over a three-year period
Better Cocoa
198
k
Tonnes of cocoa sourced annually through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan
Our Challenges
Despite the major strides that the Nestlé Cocoa Plan has taken, significant challenges remain.
We are committed to being transparent on these challenges, as well as reporting on our progress.
Key challenges
Living income
How do we help farmers to achieve a living income? There is a lot of debate and work going on, and some very helpful reports, but no clear answers yet.
Traceability
While we’ve simplified the supply chain, traceability is still a challenge from thousands of small farmers selling a few kilos at a time.
Reaching people
The farming communities are often remote, involving hours of driving along rutted earth roads. Doing anything in these communities such as training farmers or providing birth certificates is difficult and during rainy periods can be impossible.
Membership
Keeping track of farmer members of cooperatives as people join and leave can be problematic and can leave us with out-of-date records.
Certification
Certification audits are becoming more rigorous which leads to some cooperatives failing. While they get a second chance, some still fail and we are unable to buy certified cocoa for a season until they regain their certified status. This impacts the farmers as they don’t get a premium and disrupts the flow of cocoa to us.
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Learn more about our partners:
Our Partners
One organisation or company working in isolation cannot bring about real change; collaboration is needed.
A number of organisations have come together to deliver the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
Learn more about our partners:
Our Brands
Nestlé makes some of the world's favourite chocolate brands.
We are proud to say that these iconic brands now source 100% of their cocoa through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan
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