Cadbury to invest in Ghana cocoa farmers

ACCRA, Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) - Cadbury Schweppes Plc said Monday it is launching an investment programme to help Ghana's cocoa farmers improve their yields, in turn ensuring a sustainable supply chain.

'This ground-breaking initiative... marks 100 years since the Cadbury brothers first began trading in Ghana and aims to holistically support the development of sustainable cocoa growing communities,' the company said in a statement.

The group, which is launching similar projects in India, Indonesia and the Caribbean, declined to say how much it would invest overall in the Ghana project.

The investment follows a Cadbury-commissioned report from the universities in England and Ghana that showed average crop production for a Ghanaian cocoa farmer had dropped to 40 percent of its potential yield.

The report also highlighted a trend of cocoa farming becoming less attractive to the next potential generation of farmers.

'It is a long-term initiative but we will start focusing on the core cocoa areas -- particularly the western corridor.

'Over time we hope that most cocoa farmers and their families' lives will be very positively impacted,' James Boateng, the boss of Cadbury Ghana Limited, told reporters.

'We recognise... there is a drift out of the (cocoa) industry and part of the reason is the very drudgery of the industry -- it's too much hard work,' Boateng continued.

Matt Shattock, President of Cadbury Britain, Ireland, the Middle East and Africa said sustainable cocoa production holds the key to the company's strategy.

'(It) is vital to Cadbury's commercial success: not simply the supply of our most important ingredient, but guaranteeing a reliable, long-term source of the right quality cocoa, produced to the high standards our business, customers and our consumers expect,' he added.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper said at the weekend that Cadbury gets 70 percent of its cocoa beans from Ghana.

The west African nation is Africa's second cocoa producer, behind neighbours Ivory Coast.