9 companies partner with IDH and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Nestle, Mondelez, Barry Callebaut, Olam, Hersheys, Cargill, Ecom, Lindt and Touton have joined together towards efficiently curbing malnutrition of cocoa communities in Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana.

Nestle, Mondelez, Barry Callebaut, Olam, Hersheys, Cargill, Ecom and Touton have joined together with IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to better understand the nutrition situation of smallholder farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast and identify possible interventions to improve the current situation.

Ultimately, IDH hopes to leverage the existing distribution and trade power of companies, to bring services and inputs that enhance the livelihood of the smallholders supplying their cash crops.

The first step has been to develop  baseline figures on nutritional issues such as anemia and the general lack of dietary diversity in cocoa producing regions. After desk research has been concluded, to create a baseline of cocoa community nutrition, the study will be complimented with field level data on the diversification of smallholders diets in cocoa producing regions.

Touton and Ecom are collecting data in two areas of Ghana, while Olam, Cargill and Barry Callebaut are focusing on data collection in three zones of Côte d’Ivoire. The first round of data collection will end before this year, towards  the beginning of 2017 more extensive data collection and analysis will be carried out in collaboration with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

Once the initial results have given way to a clearer picture of the current state of nutrition in the cocoa sector, IDH will organize a workshop with partners. The outcome of which shall allow the cocoa sector to better understand possible approaches to overcome the challenge and jointly identify prototypes that will be tested from 2017 onwards.

If you are interested to engage with us on this topic contact:

Nienke Keen

Program officer cocoa

M: +31 (0) 6 5283 4949

Keen@idhsustainabletrade.com