New Members
The World Cocoa Foundation welcomes CAOBISCO, the Association of the Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of the EU and Tom's Confectionery Group, Denmark as its newest members. CAOBISCO's representative will be David Zimmer while Hans Rysgaard will represent Tom's.
WCF Supporter Spotlight
The mission of WCF member White Wave, the leading producer of Silk Soymilk and other soy foods, is "to creatively lead the full integration of natural soy foods into the average American diet through socially responsible and environmentally sustainable business practices." White Wave supports sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship through their commitment to purchasing organic soybeans and sugar as well as the use of wind power to replace the energy used to make White Wave's products. White Wave's James Terman, the company's representative to the World Cocoa Foundation, describes White Wave's support of the World Cocoa Foundation and sustainable cocoa growing as another example of the company's overall commitment to sustainable land and energy use.
West Africa
Bill Guyton of the World Cocoa Foundation, Tony Lass, representing the global industry, and Tuomo Poutiainen of the International Labor Organization (ILO) traveled to Ghana and the Ivory Coast in mid November to follow up with government officials and others regarding labor practices. Several successful farmer field schools have been held incorporating techniques for proper care of cocoa trees as well as information on marketing and social concerns. The Foundation continues to work with the ILO on efforts to provide safety/health programs and guidelines for cocoa farmers and their families.
Research Update
For an update on USDA cocoa related research, please visit the WCF website here.
Southeast Asia
Sharon White, Deputy Principal Officer of the US Consulate in Vietnam helped to open the first in a series of workshops in cocoa that are extending Indonesia's SUCCESS project to Vietnam. The November workshop on Cocoa Disease Management was the first foray into a three-year farmer-training project to teach farmers pest and disease management.
Southeast Asia cont.
The project, a partnership between the WCF, ACDI-VOCA, USDA and USAID, will train approximately 17,500 Vietnamese farmers in best practices cocoa cultivation. Ms. White pointed out that "the goal is to establish the cocoa industry in Vietnam on a solid footing of environmental and economic sustainability" in order to avoid the "boom-and-bust cycle" which has affected other crops in Vietnam.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, David Lim, whose activities are funded by the WCF, continued providing training support to farmers on side grafting training. David's activities are part of the SUCCESS Alliance project, implemented by ACDI-VOCA through a partnership with USAID.
Latin America
Robert Peck, Bob Lumsden, and BK Matlick represented the World Cocoa Foundation at a November ICCO regional meeting in Ecuador. While in Ecuador, Robert, BK and Bob helped to launch two projects supported by the World Cocoa Foundation. One project, farmer training and research, is being implemented by CIRAD and INIAP through a partnership with USDA. The other farmer training project, located on the Northern border of Ecuador, is made possible through a partnership with USAID, ARD and farmer groups. USDA also has approved a cocoa development proposal from ACDI-VOCA, under a Food for Progress initiative.
WCF Website Additions
Take a look at the new RESEARCH section of the World Cocoa Foundation's website for research papers, manuals and speeches on integrated crop management, the environmental, social and agronomic aspects of sustainable cocoa growing as well as cocoa statistics. Thanks in part to the addition of the WCF library, the WCF website had over 150,000 hits in November. Look for more complete revisions to the web site in the next few months.