The MoU aims to improve the livelihoods of thousands of cocoa farmers in this province of Indonesia.
Representing Swisscontact and the Sustainable Cocoa Production Program (SCPP), program director Manfred Borer signed the MoU along with Irwan Prayitno, governor of West Sumatra, and Liock Kieng Peter Ng, director of trading & sustainability for ADM Cocoa in Singapore.
The SCPP is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and supported by the Dutch organisation IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative), under the umbrella of its Cocoa Productivity and Quality Program (CPQP) in West Africa and Indonesia.
The parties have agreed to work together in a pilot programme targeting cocoa farmers in the adjoining regencies of Lima Puluh Kota, Padang Pariaman and Tanah Datar.
The project will roll out further in 2013, and in the first phase directly train as many as 2,000 West Sumatran cocoa farmers and their families.
ADM Cocoa has also agreed to supply information related to the standards of quality best suited to premium chocolate and cocoa powder production, along with up to date market information.
Source: ADM
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