More than 30,000 Indonesian cocoa farmers in Sulawesi and Sumatra to benefit from the joint collaboration.
Barry Callebaut and Deloitte jointly announced a multi-year strategic collaboration to deliver educational and skills development programmes to empower over 30,000 cocoa farmers in Sulawesi and Sumatra to permanently lift them out of poverty.
Indonesia is the world’s sixth largest cocoa producer with approximately 220,000 tonnes a year, most of which comes from Sulawesi. Cocoa plantations in Indonesia are dominated by smallholder farmers on a trajectory towards a living income and beyond. Under this new collaboration, cocoa farmers, about 20% of whom are women, will have access to financial literacy and entrepreneurship trainings to help them find ways to professionalise their small business and improve their livelihoods.
The farmers will undergo a sales and marketing training conducted by Barry Callebaut’s field facilitators who are key to the implementation of Barry Callebaut’s Farm Business Plans. These plans consist of services such as tools, individual coaching and agricultural inputs to support and improve yields and farmer income. The Farm Business Plans are designed to support farmers to develop their cocoa farms into rehabilitated, diverse and professionally run farms over a period of several years.
Together, both companies will also introduce the Deloitte Grow programme, which centres on creating better opportunities for youths through education and preserving an interest and appreciation for cocoa farming for the future. Deloitte will also collaborate with Generation Peace, an Indonesian advocacy group, to provide soft skills and critical thinking for teachers to improve the quality of education in these farming communities and prepare for the next generation to embrace Industry 4.0.
Claudia Lauw, country leader for Deloitte Indonesia, concluded: “By strengthening our connections with farmers in collaboration with businesses, communities, and educators, we can enable farmers to access the initiatives they need to improve their agricultural practices and income diversification.”
