US chocolate manufacturer Hershey has announced that its CocoaLink mobile technology program is expanding to Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of cocoa.
The CocoaLink program provides farm training through low-cost messages and expert exchanges via mobile phones in order to help farmers grow greater quantities and higher quality of cocoa.
Hershey joined with the Conseil Café-Cacao (CCC) of Ivory Coast and nine other companies in creating CocoaLink Cote d'Ivoire, which is expected to enroll 100,000 cocoa farmers by 2016.
Hershey first launched CocoaLink in Ghana in 2011 with the Ghana Cocoa Board and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF). According to the company, CocoaLink, more than 350,000 SMS messages have been provided at no cost to 18,000 cocoa farmers in more than 500 communities. More than 35% of CocoaLink users are women.
Hershey chief supply chain officer Terry O'Day said that CocoaLink messages are designed based on farmer surveys and are kept relevant through continual feedback with this interactive platform.
"We are delighted to be working together with so many other companies and leading development agencies to expand CocoaLink into Cote d'Ivoire. Mobile phones are a proven tool in reducing rural poverty and isolation while increasing community education."
"Through CocoaLink and other technology-based programs, Hershey and our partners will be adding digital literacy training in the cocoa communities of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire where the need is greatest," O'Day added.
Hershey plans to leverage CocoaLink to provide both farming and community information through several initiatives such as training videos, expanding the company's distance learning program, literacy training, and digital literacy training.
