OFI (Olam Food Ingredients), provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions, is aiming to drive resilience in cocoa farming communities, to help secure the long-term supply security of cocoa ingredients for food and beverage manufacturers. 

Its latest Cocoa Compass Impact Report (2024) reveals OFI has surpassed its cocoa greenhouse gas (GHG) Natural Capital Cost reduction milestone target for 2024 with an overall 12% reduction per ton of output against its 2018 baseline. 

It also reached its 2030 cocoa living income target, in collaboration with its customers and partners, with 155,000 farmers earning a living income, representing 45% of farmers in its global cocoa sustainability programs.   

OFI Global Head of Cocoa Sustainability Andrew Brooks says: “We’re continuing to invest in farm-level engagement and ingredient innovation by leveraging the scale of our integrated business model. This enables us to de-risk supply chains, and help deliver more sustainable, high-quality cocoa ingredients, and tailored food solutions to our customers that meet evolving consumer demands. 

"Our latest impact in our cocoa supply chain is supporting our ambition of being the preferred partner for positive change, in line with our overarching sustainability strategy, Choices for Change. As we continue towards 2030, our focus will be on maintaining this progress and enable more sustainable outcomes for cocoa production against the unpredictability of fluctuating markets and climate changes," he finishes.

OFI's Cocoa Compass impact report marks the halfway point between the 2018 baseline for its Cocoa product sustainability strategy, and 2030 targets. Other key 2024 achievements in the report, according to the company, are:

• 9.8 million trees distributed for agroforestry programs (cumulative)
• 257,000 farmers trained in Good Agricultural Practices (annual)
• 320,000 cocoa farmers received livelihood support (annual)
• 6 active landscape partnerships (annual)
• 40,000 children received education support (annual)

Farmer incomes are influenced by multiple factors such as weather and markets prices, which has seen high volatility in the last three years. In 2024, it resulted in prices increasing sharply, influencing the increase in farmers earning a living income. Conversely, a drop in the market price in the future would have the opposite effect. 

OFI uses living income as a valuable contextual indicator, serving as a north star to gauge economic status and guide its interventions, it says. Its Living Income progress is largely due to cocoa market price increases, and livelihood support. OFI has provided 320,000 farmers with livelihood support to help farmers be more resilient to the market and climate shocks. This approach enables tailored training and practical livelihood support to be delivered over multiple years, through long-term collaboration with our customers and partners. 

Natural capital acknowledges the importance of nature to OFI, tracking its progress to mitigate against climate and environmental risks that could disrupt future supply. OFI's Natural Capital progress, came from reductions in land-use change emissions, and sequestration from both cocoa and forest trees planted on farms as part of agroforestry activities.  

Brooks continues: "The industry, including governments and NGOs, need to rally together to rethink how we’re tackling challenges like crop disease, deforestation, particularly in West Africa. With cocoa crop reductions expected, and demand destruction already having an impact on product formulations, we need to find collective solution that is good for cocoa farmers, good for food and beverage processors and manufacturers, and good for consumers as well."

OFI's success delivered to date is built on the foundation of more than two decades of sustainability impact, in OFI’s direct cocoa sourcing countries, across diverse cocoa origins in Africa, South America and Asia Pacific regions.