The importance of sustainable cocoa farming
Chocolate is a beloved snack and baking ingredient for millions around the globe yet not many know how the cocoa is sourced to make the delicious chocolate. This highlights the need to be responsible with our natural resources and the farmers that work the trees and fields. Implementing sustainable practices protect our farmers and the natural recourses of this earth. Sustainability is about working together to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers. Majority cocoa plantations are found in tropical geographical settings and these settings are found in developing countries meaning that the cocoa produced are from local farms in rural areas. Research has shown that these farmers are neglected and driven to produce cocoa beans on a large scale to ensure that corporate supply chain managed organization can keep up with their high demands. This highlights the negative outcome and non-sustainability processes that are followed. It is our goal to help these farmers by implementing sustainable solutions. DairyBelle is a prod supporter of sustainable cocoa farming and the empowering of the surrounding communities. By helping these developing countries through sustainability, opportunity and equality we can help them grow their economies and assist them in enhancing their way of life. Sustainability is not just based on the farmers but on the plants as well, with big supply chain chocolate manufacturers the demand for cocoa beans are just increasing, meaning that this delicious resource will become scare sooner rather than later. We have made it our mission to implement sustainable cocoa farming for all our cocoa products, as it will allow us to leave these delicious resource for generation to come. The importance of sustainable usage means that the cocoa tree plantations are not over worked and the trees can bear fruit for longer. It also means the removal of dangerous pesticides and products to enhance the plants growing capabilities. Sustainable farming protects the lifespan of the plants and ensure that continuation of planting the seeds and eliminating the deforestation process that put the plants in jeopardy. The World Cocoa Foundation has made immense strides by implementing programs that benefit the cocoa farmers through fair wages and by assisting their families with education for the children and equal work opportunities for the women. The WCF recognizes the need to provide all cocoa farmers with the necessary support to maintain their crops and yield a profit at the end. On a global scale many organizations have implemented the cocoa life sustainability process in their chocolate manufacturing. This proses includes the ensuring of the supply chain and that it is sustainable and that it will meet the demands of the consumers in the future. There are many challenges still ahead to ensure sustainability for all cocoa farmers. Many of the farmers are living below the poverty line and a lot of the crops are lost to diseases. These challenges need to be resolved to ensure a secure and quality way of sustainability for all cocoa farmers. One of the largest challenges in the cocoa farming industry is the child labour, many children are forced from a young age to work in the plantations to aid their families in wages. This cause highlights the necessity of sustainable cocoa farming to empower children with an education instead of having to go into the plantations. Sustainable farming provides farmers with the necessity resources that they need to empower their farms through legal wages and benefits that has a positive influence on their families and communities.