Our Action Plan

Farmer Field Schools

The main way we help train farmers is by supporting and investing in a programme of farmer field schools in West Africa. This initiative, that is organised by the industry as a whole and includes the major chocolate manufacturers, has already benefited over 80,000 farmers. At these farmer field schools, between 20 and 30 local farmers get together and meet at a local cocoa farm, on average every two to three weeks.

The simple aim of farmer field schools is to help farmers to increase their yield and the quality of their harvest. They’re taught responsible working practices and sustainable farming methods.

A further benefit of the farmer field schools is that they provide a forum to raise and tackle issues such as child labour, the importance of schooling for children and HIV / AIDS.

Farmer field schools have proven to be very effective and The Cocoa Plan will continue to contribute to the programme’s expansion and roll-out. An important element is that we are committing to buying cocoa from trained farmers, and paying a premium for their higher quality cocoa. This benefits farmers and makes the field school programme more viable, helping to secure its long term future, and it also helps Nestlé by providing beans that are better quality and more traceable.