Nestle amplifies initiative to elevate livelihoods for 50,000 families in their cocoa production network.
Nestlé, a global food and beverage company, is making strides in improving the livelihoods of cocoa farming families in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, its main cocoa origins. The company's Income Accelerator Program, launched in 2020, has seen impressive growth and impact since its inception.
The program began as a pilot with 1,000 families and scaled to 10,000 families by 2022. Nestlé now plans to engage 50,000 cocoa-farming households by 2026, with a long-term goal of supporting an estimated 160,000 households by 2030 in these two countries.
According to a 2024 independent evaluation by the KIT Institute, participating households have achieved 18% higher cocoa yields compared to non-participants, despite challenging weather conditions. Total net income for participants is 15% higher, with net cocoa profits accelerating by 21%, helped by rising cocoa prices.
Cocoa farms in the program are healthier due to the adoption of good agricultural practices like pruning, weeding, shade management, pest control, and composting. There is also a notable 18% increase in women's empowerment within participant households.
Children's well-being improved by 31%, with school enrollment rising from 81% in 2022 to 88% in 2024. The program offers financial incentives up to CHF 500 annually for activities such as enrolling children in school, implementing sustainable farming, agroforestry (e.g., planting shade trees), and income diversification through other crops or livestock.
Nestlé is simplifying incentive structures to improve clarity and speed of implementation, focusing on two core areas: farm support (pruning) and household support (schooling) while maintaining broad activity coverage. Women's empowerment and enabling households to save money are key program dimensions.
The program has drawn interest from governments and other industry players to scale up and maximize impact. Nestlé's CEO, Laurent Freixe, has made a statement regarding the program, while Darrell High, Nestlé Cocoa Manager, confirmed that the program is making a real difference, as shown in the 2024 report.
The long-term goal is to create widespread social and economic impact in the cocoa supply chain of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, addressing sustainability and poverty challenges with measurable results.
The Income Accelerator Program, initially targeting 1,000 families in 2020, aims to expand its reach to 50,000 cocoa farming households by 2026, with a vision to support 160,000 households by 2030 – both significant business and finance ventures. This program, helmed by Nestlé, has seen impressive growth in aspects such as cocoa yield, net income, and women's empowerment, leading to investments from governments and other industry players.
