CocoaMAP Program Will Track Global Cocoa Sustainability

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The World Cocoa Foundation is introducing an online tool for tracking and assessing sustainable cocoa farming.

The World Cocoa Foundation is making quick plans to implement CocoaMAP, an online program that will track global progress in sustainable cocoa farming.

Conceived through a partnership between the World Cocoa Foundation and U.S. software company aWhere, CocoaMAP will enable live tracking of sustainable business practices that are happening on cocoa farms throughout the world. Measures such as annual production of cocoa, number of woman farmers in leadership positions, and literacy rates in cocoa farming communities will be publically available on CocoaMAP while staffers on the ground update these figures on a routine basis.

By the first quarter of 2013, the World Cocoa Foundation wants to generate initial data from pilot trials in Ghana, Ivory, and Indonesia.

The World Cocoa Foundation says it has the blessing of its many member companies-including ingredient suppliers and finished chocolate manufacturers-and various other stakeholders, including producing-country governments and nongovernmental organizations that provided guidance for CocoaMAP’s development. The decision was formally announced in June at a partnership meeting in Washington, DC.

“Collecting this information may not be new, especially for organizations with track records in the field, but having a single location to report progress and generate user-friendly reports for a broad audience through CocoaMAP is an innovation we are proud to pioneer,” says Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation. Guyton adds that the project is part of an effort to rapidly achieve sustainable cocoa, wile improving food security and economic independence for cocoa-producing communities.

Cocoa ingredient suppliers that are members of the World Cocoa Foundation include ADM (Decatur, IL), Cargill Inc. (Minneapolis), and Friesland-Campina (Amersfoort, the Netherlands).

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