The Swiss food giant has enrolled 11,000 farming households in the leading agricultural region of Cote d’Ivoire in a program that pays farmers $535 in bonuses, and is expanding the program to neighboring Ghana.
“Those in the program still earn almost $3,000 a year below the amount of just over $7,500 that’s needed to live a decent life — a gap highlighting a systemic challenge for the cocoa industry,” media said.
For cocoa producers not participating in the program, the difference was reported to be nearly $4,000.
A legacy of low farm wages is preventing West African producers from investing in plantations, making it harder to cope with extreme weather and crop disease, and risking a supply crisis like the one that sent prices soaring to record highs this year, media said.