Sustainable cocoa: Tradin Organic’s inaugural report highlights need to “elevate transparency”

08 Aug 2019 --- Tradin Organic has released its first cocoa sustainability report, which summarizes the Netherlands-based ingredient provider’s past milestones and plans for the future. The five primary aspects the company addresses are sustainable cocoa sourcing and processing; traceability and transparency; well-being for communities; and a “healthy planet.” The company highlights its Sierra Leone Farmer Field School project, its Fairtrade expansion and its new production line installation. Additionally, the report discusses plans to reduce the carbon footprint of cocoa products, a child protection program to safeguard against child labor and the company’s digital traceability systems to elevate transparency.

“Following the creation of our sourcing project in Sierra Leone in 2017, we are now launching several sustainability projects in our cocoa supply chains. These projects address social and environmental issues like deforestation and child protection. That is why we chose this moment to launch our first sustainability report,” Joost Hamelink, Sustainability Specialist at Tradin Organic, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Sao Briama, Tradin Organic’s first organic certified cocoa farmer in Sierra Leone.To achieve sustainable cocoa sourcing, Tradin Organic aims to help 10,000 new farmers to obtain organic certification and another 10,000 farmers to access Fairtrade certification by 2020. This will include expanding its organic farmer base worldwide, expanding Fairtrade certification in Sierra Leone and initiating Fairtrade certification in DR Congo. Additionally, the company says that its team of agronomists visiting its cocoa suppliers helps to monitor organic production. 

“The information in our sustainability report adds on to our work with certifications like Fairtrade and Organic, and all the information in this report is backed up by data. We keep a database with information on all our sustainability performance indicators. This information can be verified independently. In the coming years, we expect to work with third-party verification for some of the key elements of our report, such as our carbon neutral processing,” Hamelink explains. 

Registering 100 percent of organic farmers in Sierra Leone in its digital traceability system by early 2020 will help elevate transparency, the company says. Under the piloting system, each cocoa farmer in the country has their own registration number, which is linked to their registration form. Whenever the farmer sells a bag of cocoa beans, the bag is labeled with the farmer registration number, allowing traceability back to the farmer. The system works through a smartphone app, which also allows photos of farmers and maps of their farms with GPS coordinates to be uploaded. 

Another goal is to set up 60 Farmer Field Schools by 2020, which provide training for farmers on organic production principles and support them with organic and Fairtrade certification. The training covers various organic agricultural practices, such as pruning and under-brushing. The company currently has 67 operational farmer field schools, with about 100 farmers per school. 

Tradin Organic also acknowledges that its organic farming communities may be at risk of child labor. In response, it launched a Child Protection Program in March, which will only focus the Sierra Leone supply chain to begin with. A baseline study to understand the breadth of child labor in cocoa production is underway and is expected to be completed by this September. It will then work with cocoa farming communities to set up a continuous monitoring and remediation system. Additionally, the company plans to help 5,000 children go to school by 2023. 

A greener planet 
“We are very aware of global consumer trends towards healthier and more sustainable diets. We see that consumers are demanding more transparency about where their food is coming from. In addition, consumers are increasingly aware of the sustainability challenges concerning their food ingredients. This is especially the case in cocoa, where recent publications have helped to increase awareness on critical social and environmental issues such as deforestation and child labor,” Hamelink continues. 

By 2024, the company aims to have replanted 20,000 trees in Sierra Leone. Tradin Organic believes that regenerative organic agroforestry has the potential to stop deforestation and can actually spark reforestation. It hopes that replanting trees and organic cocoa cultivation can draw down enough carbon to offset the entire carbon footprint of its products. Clearing more forest in its sourcing areas could also threaten the Gola Forest protected area, the company notes. In light of this, it plans to establish a smart regenerative agroforestry system to allow farmers to improve the yield of their cocoa plantations.Sustainability Specialist, Joost Hamelink, notes child labor and deforestation as key issues.

“Establishing carbon-positive agroforestry systems involves planting cocoa trees, as well as a range of other species of trees. These other species will include shade trees, food crops and other trees, which will provide economic benefits to our farmers while boosting soil carbon sequestration and biodiversity. At this moment, we are close to finishing the design phase of this project, and we hope to launch the project towards the end of the year,” Hamelink notes.

Tradin Organic also aims to have 100 percent carbon-neutral cocoa products by 2025, and is initiating a carbon insetting program. The 2018 opening of a second processing line at its Crown of Holland facility led to a decline in carbon efficiency. That year, there was 0.29kg of CO2 per kg of finished product, which was the same as in 2017. “As with the launch of any new project, the start-up of our second production line presented a couple of challenges. As is usual with this kind of process, it took some trial runs before the line was operating at full capacity and optimal carbon efficiency,” Hamelink explains. 

This year, the carbon emissions are expected to be 0.27kg of CO2 per kg of finished product. By 2025, the company aims to have 0.20kg of CO2 per kg of finished product. “We are still working on implementing some measures at our cocoa processing facility to further reduce its carbon emissions,” he says. 

Deforestation has been a pressing issue in the food industry, with just 24 percent of high-impact food and agriculture companies disclosing their effects on forests, according to a report from CDP. The organization notes that even if companies are reporting information in their own sustainability reports, that is not comparable to other companies and allows them to set the narrative they want to tell. 

In the chocolate industry generally, Barry Callebaut is leading the way, with its “Forever Chocolate” scheme being the number one sustainability strategy in the packaged foods industry, according to Sustainalytics. The strategy addresses child labor, farmers’ poverty, carbon and forest footprint, and sustainable sourcing.

By Katherine Durrell