Sustainability

When you have a delicious meal, you send compliments to the chef, right? Right! So similarly, when you enjoy that signature choco-malt and milky taste of MILO^®, our farmers are to thank for that world-class taste from the quality home-grown ingredients they provide!

However, it’s not all rosy. Farmers in West Africa endure so much to produce those quality ingredients. The cocoa supply chain faces many challenges ranging from low productivity (yields) to gender inequalities. So, to make life better for our farmers here in West Africa, Nestlé has launched the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, that improves these conditions for generations and generations to come! Now that’s sustainability!

By taking a critical look at the issues at hand, the plan provides solutions to the low productivity (yields) and knowledge-based struggles that our farmers experience. But it's more than just a farmer’s program; it's a family program. It enables cocoa-farming families to benefit in three areas:

• Better farming practices: Training cocoa farmers in good agricultural practices, along with providing essential resources such as cocoa and shade tree seedlings, remains the driving force of our “Better Farming” pillar. In Ghana, in 2025, we successfully trained over 90% of our NCP cocoa farmers. Additionally, we distributed more than 400,000 cocoa seedlings to support farm regeneration, and approximately 200,000 shade tree seedlings to promote agroforestry and help farmers build climate resilient cocoa plantations.
• Better Lives: To strengthen child protection and women’s empowerment under the plan, interventions through CLMRS and VSLAs continued across Ghana and Nigeria. Over 90% of cocoa households were profiled for child labour risks, and more than 85% of identified children received appropriate support. In addition, 162 VSLAs were established to further enhance household resilience and women’s economic empowerment.
• Better cocoa: Nestlé procures our cocoa ingredients from farms that are polygon mapped, devoid from protected areas and forest reserves. This makes our cocoa supply chain deforestation free and fully traceable. While implementing the program, Nestle has mapped 100% of our farmers farms to ensure traceability. 100% of our farmers were also paid with their premium for being compliant under the Rainforest Alliance Certification.

With all these measures in place, the lives of many cocoa farming families in West Africa are being transformed for the better! Not only are we saving the environment through sustainable farming practices, but we are empowering the future generations too! Follow the Nestlé Cocoa Plan for more interesting updates! (Sustainable Cocoa | Cocoa Cultivation | Nestlé Cocoa Plan (nestlecocoaplan.com))