For consumers, and even the companies that serve them, the journey from cocoa bean to chocolate bar can feel a little mysterious. But that’s what Belcolade and Puratos set out to demystify with the foundation of the Cacao-Trace® program, which thrives on transparency.
Belcolade and Puratos’ latest annual report launches later this month, revealing some of the stories behind the scenes, fostering a deeper connection between consumers, chocolate producers, and the communities that cultivate one of the world’s favorite indulgences. Take a trip around the world for a glimpse of how Cacao-Trace is making a lifechanging impact in key cocoa farming regions – from the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) to Mexico, Vietnam and beyond.
Championing ‘Great Taste, Doing Good’
At the heart of the Cacao-Trace program is a commitment to high-quality chocolate, produced responsibly and compensated fairly. Rooted in the ethos of ‘Great Taste, Doing Good’, it sets out to reward farmers, their families, and communities for the value that they create. Through initiatives like the Quality Premium and the Chocolate Bonus, farmers are incentivized to produce high-quality beans while receiving financial support on top of their everyday income. The Chocolate Bonus, for instance, offers back 10 Eurocents for every kg of Cacao-Trace chocolate sold. For farmers, this can total between two and five months’ extra revenue on a yearly basis. But the benefits of Cacao-Trace extend beyond mere monetary gain, as it strives to enhance the long-term well-being of cocoa-growing communities through various community projects, ranging from educational to sustainable healthcare initiatives.
In 2023 alone, Cacao-Trace made significant strides, reaching over 23,000 farmers and their families across eight countries – a testament to its growing and far-reaching impact on a global scale. With ambitious goals to support up to 50,000 farmers by 2030 and help every one of them achieve a living income, the program’s vision of sustainability and empowerment is well within reach.
Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)
For almost ten years, the Cacao-Trace program has been making a big impact in Côte d’Ivoire – a nation nestled on the southern coast of West Africa. In 2023 alone, the program’s efforts reached nearly 13,000 cocoa farmers through a network of 17 cooperatives, investing over €1.4 million back into the community, a figure that reached €2.4m collected for 23,247 farmers across the eight countries of the program. This support has facilitated multiple initiatives, including the provision of almost 9,750 school kits, the construction, renovation, and extension of five schools – resulting in the addition of 24 new classrooms – and the installation of 25 water towers powered by solar energy. The Chocolate Bonus has even assisted the launch of small businesses, like the snail farm in Akridou Ladé. Funding for this initiative was approved in 2023 and will give 82 women the opportunity to cultivate snails – a local delicacy – with little land and low maintenance, allowing the women to allocate time to other income-generating activities.
Among the program’s standout Ivory Coast successes though is the Abdoulayekro Primary School project. The school faced infrastructure challenges, lacked essential amenities, like tables and chairs, and adequate sanitary facilities. Its renovation was unattainable without external funding, a gap bridged by the Chocolate Bonus. The local community earmarked its first Chocolate Bonus toward the restoration of Abdoulayekro Primary School, embarking on the ambitious task of revitalizing the rural educational institution from its foundation. The outcome of the extensive transformation included safe, well-built, and fully furnished classrooms, the provision of a fully equipped canteen and modern sanitary facilities. Not only did this provide a better environment for children to learn, but the completion of the project created a strong sense of optimism within the local community.
All in all, the Ivory Coast projects demonstrate the profound impact that financial support from Cacao-Trace can have, and reaffirmed the collective belief that progress thrives when communities unite behind a common purpose. Which is why Cacao-Trace has expanded into other regions worldwide…
Mexico
Following the success of Cacao-Trace in Côte d’Ivoire, the program was introduced in Mexico in 2018, kicking off with the opening of a new post-harvest center in the state of Tabasco. This inauguration marked the beginning of a new chapter in cocoa farming in Mexico, while preserving its cultural heritage in the country.
Today, Cacao-Trace supports almost 1,500 cocoa farmers in collecting high quality Trinitario and Criollo cocoa fresh beans. Within the facility, newly harvested beans sourced from neighboring communities are fermented at the beginning of their transformation into premium professional chocolate. But that’s not all. Experts on site also help to train local teams on the latest fermentation and drying techniques – helping them to deliver the superior taste that distinguishes Cacao-Trace chocolate from others and has direct financial benefits to the Mexican farmers and their communities.
Vietnam
There are positive tales to tell from Cacao-Trace communities in Asia too. Vietnam hosts the longest-running Cacao-Trace program, which has been operating for almost ten years. Since its initiation, it has focused on nurturing partnerships and pioneering new farming processes, including regenerative agroforestry cocoa production.
One Warehouse & Quality Supervisor, Nguyen Cong Bang, started as an intern at the Puratos Grand-Place, a chocolate manufacturing facility in Vietnam. Raised by farming parents, he is fully aware of the challenges this community can face, inspiring him to advocate for better production and sustainable practices – and livelihoods. Reflecting on his involvement in the Cacao-Trace program, Nguyen says: “I feel proud to work for a company that cares about cocoa farmers. Many of them are now convinced by sustainable farming practices thanks to the work done daily by our technical and purchasing teams on the ground with the Cacao-Trace program. Because of it, I notice that more farmers want to plant cocoa trees.”
The Cacao-Trace initiative currently aids over 1,651 farmers in Vietnam, and over 23,000 farmers across eight countries of the program. Furthermore, in 2023, it spearheaded some important community projects, including the construction of a new classroom in Thanh Binh primary school, the provision of books and the fund of scholarships for 30-plus students in Lam Dong primary school.
The future of Cacao-Trace
From planting nearly 200,000 trees to building 46 forms of water equipment, coordinating 12 school projects, and imminent launches in Costa Rica and Peru, 2023 proved the most successful year so far for the Cacao-Trace program, which will soon be active in ten key countries. The journey is far from over. As it expands its reach to new cocoa farming communities worldwide and pursues the objective to reach 25,000 farmer families in 2025 and double the number of farmers reached by 2030, the program remains steadfast in its mission to create a more sustainable and equitable future for the cocoa chain, and everyone involved
Download report
These insights and more will soon be published in the latest annual Cacao-Trace report. Download it now to hear more of the thousands of stories about the lives touched by the program, discover more of its milestone achievements in 2023 and learn how it continues to improve sustainability across the chocolate and cocoa-based product industries.
