Petra Foods and Nestlé Indonesia Signs MOU for Sustainable Cocoa Farming

This MOU, therefore, marks another milestone for our SEEDS program where in Indonesia alone, it is expected to benefit close to 1,000 farmers.

7/27/2011 --- Petra Foods Limited and PT Nestlé Indonesia announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to collaborate on improving the sustainability of cocoa production and promoting supply chain traceability in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

This joint effort will see both parties teaming up to establish a comprehensive training program (including good agricultural practices, fermentation methods and grafting techniques) aimed at driving higher productivity and better quality of cocoa beans to promote cocoa sustainability within the region so as to improve the livelihoods of the farming community.

Petra’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr John Chuang, said, “For Petra Foods, it has always been our goal to grow the Group in a sustainable and responsible manner. Under our Social Economic Environmental Development for Sustainability, or “SEEDS”, program, the aim is to promote cocoa sustainability and supply chain traceability in the worldwide farming communities by collaborating with various partners.” Mr Chuang further added,” This MOU, therefore, marks another milestone for our SEEDS program where in Indonesia alone, it is expected to benefit close to 1,000 farmers. We are very pleased to have Nestlé as a partner in our South Sulawesi project and I am confident of the long term success of this joint effort. This is a union of two partners sharing the common vision of sustainability - enhancing the income of farmers by training them to improve yields
and quality on their farms.

Other initiatives under Petra’s SEEDS program include the following:

• The PACTS partnership with the Cemoi Group and the Blommer Chocolate Company to establish up to 30 fermentation centres in Ivory Coast, with the mission to improve the supply of high quality fermented and traceable cocoa beans while at the same time improving the livelihoods of the local cocoa farming community. The company works with up to 50 local co-operatives covering approximately 10,000 farmers.

• Membership of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), an organisation formed to promote a sustainable cocoa economy through economic and social development and environmental stewardship in cocoa-growing communities.

• A partner in the Cocoa Livelihoods Program, an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together with the WCF, that aids 200,000 cocoa farming households in Africa.

• A partner in the Phoenix Project in Bahia, Brazil, an initiative jointly sponsored by the Dutch Government and the local association of cocoa processors, aimed at helping the cocoa farming community eliminate diseases and achieve higher crop yields.