Whittaker’s is having to look to other cocoa bean sources across Africa to combat global supply shortages.
To date, Whittaker’s has only used Ghanaian cocoa beans to make its chocolate, but now is supplementing this with cocoa beans that meet its quality and ethical standards from other parts of Africa.
This is because challenges in supply chain and poor harvests due to adverse weather have resulted in major shortages, says Whittaker’s co-Chief Operating Officer, Matt Whittaker. About 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced in Africa and the supply is currently down by 40% on previous years’ harvests.
Same taste and quality
Whittaker’s customers will see changes to its packaging to reflect the cocoa origin change from next month. To maintain reliable supply, the chocolate company is establishing relationships with cocoa cooperatives in several countries.
“We’re pleased to have identified additional sources of cocoa bean supply in Africa that meet our stringent ethical standards, and we plan to blend some of these with our Ghanaian cocoa beans to make our chocolate and maintain the same taste and quality Whittaker’s is known for.
“Another thing that won’t change is our commitment to using only 100% Rainforest Alliance-certified and fully traceable cocoa beans from anywhere we source from across that continent,” says Whittaker.
Rainforest Alliance not only certifies that cocoa beans are ethically produced but also works with cocoa farmers on the ground to help improve their working conditions. Traceability means all the cocoa beans can be traced right down to the individual farms where they are grown, providing even more transparency around how they are produced.
“In addition to working with Rainforest Alliance to build our relationships further with cocoa cooperatives in other parts of Africa, we will also continue to work directly with the cocoa cooperatives that we source our cocoa from, investing in initiatives that support their communities,” says Whittaker.
Whittaker’s ongoing commitment to improving conditions for the communities of its cocoa farmers is reflected in projects that include income diversification (training farmers how they can increase funds by growing fruits and vegetables) and initiatives like a climate resilience project to invest in 1000ha of shade trees, which support the longevity of the cocoa tree.
Feedback welcome
“As always, we welcome feedback from our Chocolate Lovers and hope they agree it is a great outcome to have better certainty of cocoa supply, while maintaining the quality and ethical standards Whittaker’s is known for,” says Whittaker.
“We wanted to be upfront with Whittaker’s Chocolate Lovers about why we need to have a more diverse cocoa supply chain. The reality is that the global cocoa shortage looks set to continue, which is also unfortunately likely to have ongoing impacts on the price of all chocolate into the future.”
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