In order to lift more than 500,000 cocoa farmers out of poverty in our supply chain, it is critical to have an in-depth understanding of the conditions, challenges and potential of the farms and farmers we are working with. Our unique and extensive farm mapping database was expanded to cover 234,997 farmers with full data in 2020/21. Over the past five years, we've learned that farm-specific support is more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach. In 2020/21 a total of 125,593 cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador and Indonesia received Farm Services support.

For the measurement of progress against our target to lift over 500,000 cocoa farmers out of poverty by 2025, we are using as a starting point the International Poverty Line definition of extreme poverty of USD 1.90/day. But we are not stopping there. Our activities are directed to place farmers on a trajectory towards a living income and beyond, through increased productivity and income diversification. In 2020/21 we estimate 214,584 cocoa farmers (+50%) in our supply chain are out of poverty.
 

Among the most prevalent types of child labor, occurring primarily on family farms, is that of children working at too young an age or working in hazardous conditions. In line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the solution lies not in ending the sourcing from these regions, but in assessing, monitoring and remediating on the ground the risk of children becoming involved in child labor. Therefore, we continue to monitor and identify cases of child labor rigorously and with intent. This year, our monitoring and remediation systems grew +116% to cover 237 farmer groups, including 220,878 farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon. In addition, 25,486 (+412%) of the reported child labor cases we found in previous years, are now under remediation. The percentage of the farmer groups we directly source from with whom we undertake child labor monitoring and remediation activities is 61%.

Our approach to eradicate child labor is a child-centered approach which starts at the local level, engaging with children, parents, families and community members to create empowered communities to help their own development and make lasting change for the future. This approach relies on a framework of collaborative action from all stakeholders. In 2020, our partnership with Embode, the internationally renowned social protection and human rights consultancy, led to the finalization of our new approach to tackling child labor. This new approach sets clear internal milestones between 2020 and 2025 to guide planning, implementation, and stakeholder engagement.

At Barry Callebaut, we are the key partner for our customers to enable them to fulfill their sustainability commitments. We work with, and implement, several sustainable cocoa programs to improve farmer livelihoods and farming practices. Among them is Cocoa Horizons, our preferred vehicle to drive impact and deliver on our Forever Chocolate ambition. In 2020/21, we have seen significant growth in Cocoa Horizons premiums, driven by strong demand from customers. The premiums from the purchase of HORIZONS cocoa products generated over CHF 28.4 million in funds, an increase of +61% compared to prior year. This uptake in demand is also reflected in the increase to 43% (+15%) of the percentage of cocoa and chocolate products sold that contain 100% sustainable cocoa or chocolate. In addition, in fiscal year 2020/21 we sourced 66% of all our non-cocoa ingredients from sustainable sources, an increase of +8% compared to the previous year.

We continued to lead the way in sustainable chocolate innovation this year. Almost two years after the development of WholeFruit chocolate, a chocolate containing only ingredients from the cacaofruit, in June 2021, Cacao Barry unleashed Cacao Barry’s WholeFruit Evocao™, the first signature expression of WholeFruit chocolate. WholeFruit Evocao™ was also the first global chocolate to qualify for the Upcycled Certified mark, developed by the Upcycled Food Association.