Ferrero exceeds 2022 deforestation, sustainability targets

Ferrero Group claims it has either met or exceeded over half of its 2022 targets under the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) during the 2019/20 reporting period.

the Italian confectionery company has mapped over 123,000 farms in both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, exceeding the 2022 target of 100,872. It has also distributed 900,000 improved cocoa plant seedlings and trained over 100,000 farmers in good agricultural practices, 30,000 more than its target.

The CFI is a partnership between the governments of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and leading cocoa and chocolate companies.

Ferrero will continue its activities under the CFI such as polygon mapping farms to ensure a high level of traceability, more deforestation risk assessment, agroforestry development, and helping establish village savings and loan associations.

Marco Gonçalves, chief procurement and hazelnut company officer at Ferrero, said that the company's strong progress on tracing cocoa and mapping the farms to ensure that they do not get cocoa from protected areas.

Goncalves added that it’s essential that all stakeholders deliver on commitments made to continue the positive trend that has reduced deforestation in cocoa-growing areas.

Ferrero recently announced that its cocoa is 100 percent sustainably sourced via independently managed standards such as Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, and others.

In addition, the company has achieved 91 percent traceability from farm to first purchase point for its directly sourced cocoa.

As part of its commitment to transparency, Ferrero also made public the farmer groups from which it sources cocoa.