Barry Callebaut AG, Zurich, is intensifying its cooperation with Ivory Coast and Ghana on a sustainable cocoa farming model. Through the signing of letters of intent, the Swiss concern will kick off a pilot project to assess the contributors to sustainable cocoa farming in the world’s two largest cocoa producing countries.

The company will work with Ivory Coast on an agroforestry model for cocoa farming. The world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products and the Conseil Café Cacao (CCC) of Ivory Coast (image) signed a letter of intent, to work collaboratively towards the design and validation of a sustainable cocoa farming model, with a specific focus on the clearing and replanting of cocoa trees infected with the swollen-shoot virus (CSSV) disease. Also, the cooperation will include agroforestry and more specifically income diversification for cocoa farmers.