Cargill begins sourcing sustainable cocoa from Vietnam

The company announced that it has sourced the first UTZ Certified cocoa beans to its buying station in Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province in Vietnam. Harold Poelma, managing director cocoa, Cargill cocoa and chocolate, said: "The delivery of the first UTZ Certified beans produced in Vietnam, from the first three certified cooperatives, is an important milestone in Vietnam's development as a producer of high quality cocoa beans - and in particular of certified sustainable beans.
He added that the company is looking forward to the certification of more cooperatives in Vietnam, which will enable its to scale up the production of sustainable cocoa.
According to Cargill, since 2004 it has been working in Vietnam, along with the Vietnamese and Dutch governments and Mars Incorporated, to help Vietnam develop its cocoa sector and produce sustainable cocoa beans to meet the growing demand for certified sustainable chocolate.
"As part of this development Cargill supported construction of seedling houses and built buying stations close to the cocoa growing areas, providing easier access to the market for farmers. The company has also introduced its successful farmer training programme to Vietnam, which to date has trained 12,000 farmers," the company said in a statement.
Vietnam's total cocoa crop has grown from less than 20 metric tonnes per year to a projected 2,500 metric tonnes by the end of 2011.
The UTZ Certified cocoa programme was founded by Cargill, along with Dutch development organisation Solidaridad and others in the cocoa sector. It was created to introduce independent certification to improve agricultural, environmental and social practices in cocoa production.

(Source: http://www.procurementleaders.com/news/latestnews/0809-cargill-sustainable-cocoa/)