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Hotel Chocolat has launched two new chocolate bars and will donate 100% of the bar sales to support sustainable cacao farming practices. The two ‘Better Way’ bars offer consumers a 50% milk option and 70% dark option, both made using cacao beans from Saint Lucia and Ghana, where the brand works with farmers to develop what it calls ‘gentle farming’ practices. According to the chocolatier, funds from sales will support three key initiatives: supplying shade tree seedlings to farmers in Ghana that are part of gentle farming to improve productivity and increase biodiversity, providing hands-on pruning help and education to increase yield, and sharing knowledge on the benefits of using organic fertiliser to retail soil moisture and nutrients. Retailing at £2.95, both variants contain Ghanian chocolate praline combined with biscuits and cherries and are enrobed in chocolate made using cacao from Saint Lucia. Lysa Hardy, MD of retail at Hotel Chocolat, said: “Increasing pressure on farming methods due to low payments for cacao has led to deforestation, poor soil quality, loss of biodiversity and a cycle of hardship for farming families”. She added: “We started our journey of understanding what it takes to grow truly sustainable cacao almost 20 years ago when we bought our cacao farm in Saint Lucia. We’ve spent this time educating ourselves and working with farmers in both Saint Lucia and Ghana, and experts such as Green Tropics, to develop gentle farming practices which have a better impact on nature.”