Olam, leading supplier of cocoa beans and ingredients announced they achieved 100% traceability of the cocoa they purchase directly in their global supply chain.
Olam initially made a statement five years ago that would commit to enhance the transparency of their operations. If true, this would mean around 12% of the world’s total cocoa supplies could now be linked back to the individual farm or community they were sourced from.
In October 2019, Olam launched ‘Cocoa Compass’, their sustainability ambition for the future of cocoa. They set out goals from supporting farmers to earn a living income, to put children first by eliminating child labour and increasing access to education, to protecting forests and mitigating environmental impact. If they have achieved 100% traceability it would represent a significant milestone in the project.
In pursuit of this goal, Olam Cocoa developed an end-to-end traceability system designed to track the cocoa at every stage in the direct supply chain across nine countries.
By collecting data such as farm and community metrics, cocoa bean purchasing and transportation information, and details on the facility where the cocoa was processed, the system can provide transparency for customers and allow sustainability programmes targeted at tackling child labour and deforestation to be tailored to the specific needs of farmers and cocoa-growing communities.
“Not only does this give our customers unprecedented visibility of where their cocoa comes from and how it makes its way to them; achieving 100% direct source traceability is a significant step towards our longer-term ambition of a professionalised and quality-focused cocoa supply chain, one where farmers are earning a living income, child labour is eliminated, and the natural world is protected.” -Gerard A. Manley, CEO, Olam Cocoa
This builds on insights from existing tools, like the Olam & Farmer Information System (OFIS), which feeds through to Olam’s sustainability insights platform, AtSource. This is a dashboard showing where the cocoa beans have come from, as well as the social and environmental impact they have had on their journey from source to manufacturer.
Over 325,000 cocoa farmers across Asia, Africa and South America are now using Olam’s sustainability technology to share their data in this way.
Editors note: – The cynic in me notes that the Olam is claiming 100% traceability, not guaranteeing that no policy infringements are taking place. Child labour and deforestation can still happen, but their claim is that they will be able to accurately report it.
