Cemoi Unveils Sustainable Cocoa Plan

06 Feb 2015 --- Involved in sustainability programmes across the world for over 20 years, the CEMOI Group presented its vision and commitment for sustainable cocoa: TRANSPARENCE CACAO. Through this vision, CEMOI is showing its determination to master the entire cocoa network, in which it is involved by managing every processing step, from farmer to consumer.

This way, the Group is reinforcing its commitment to insure the traceability 100% of its cocoa supplies, namely 145.000 tons of purchased beans. CEMOI will be investing 20 million Euros during the next 3 years to implement this project.

TRANSPARENCE CACAO was developed by the Group CEMOI with the support of THE FOREST TRUST (TFT) organization, of which it is officially a member, and which accompanies numerous companies on their sustainable development strategy concerning topics such as palm, soy or wood.

TRANSPARENCE CACAO includes all the initiatives already taken by CEMOI: Implementation of an organic cocoa network in Ecuador, Sao Tomé and the Dominican Republic in the 1980’ through the creation of specific fermentation and drying centres. The PACTS programme, a joint venture initiated in 2009 in Ivory Coast in collaboration with 2 other family owned companies: BLOMMER and DELFI, representing today 19.000 farmers. At last, the partnership announced between CEMOI and PURATOS last December is also part of this approach. It focuses on the development of a sustainable cocoa supply and the construction of a cocoa collecting and fermenting centre in the province of San Pedro in Ivory Coast. Other partnerships with other family owned companies are currently being created.

The vision of CEMOI is to offer a quality cocoa that will create added value and profit for all the players of the network. Traceability and quality are at the very heart of the programme. In fact, TRANSPARENCE CACAO is based on 4 quality dimensions (food, aromatic, farmer life and environmental). The programme commits to promoting and professionalizing the work of farmers, and also to allow them to acquire the necessary skills to meet CEMOI commitments.

The project will unfold on the basis of 3 pillars:
- KNOWING the profile of suppliers, cooperatives and farmers.
- TRANSFORMING the needs of the cooperatives and farmers into projects, thanks to an action plan that answers to every need.
- VERIFYING the progression of the project with achievement indicators, verifiable by external partners.

“TRANSPARENCE CACAO is revolutionary for the cocoa sector, confirms Bastien Sachet, TFT director. Few companies are capable of knowing 100% of their farmers, and of stating such a traceability goal. This ambition has its place within the continuity of CEMOI values: quality is built with people, on site, starting with the field. This is about actively developing a network, instead of passively collecting a raw material. TFT is proud to be able to help CEMOI implement its vision, and our teams are already active on the field.”

The originality of TRANSPARENCE CACAO resides also in the fact that CEMOI invites this way all its clients and consumers to contribute to this action. By purchasing CEMOI cocoa or chocolate, our partners have access to a new structured offer that reflects the network expertise: 3 ranges of cocoa. CEMOI proposes in this way the various levels of quality and traceability of its offer: Reference, Preference, and Excellence. “TRANSPARENCE COCOA reflects the commitment of CEMOI to the network, as a major player of cocoa and chocolate. It is a sincere policy of continuous improvement and an invitation to our clients to join us,” Patrick POIRRIER, President of CEMOI Group, states.