April 23, 2025 – Nestle, a prominent food and beverage company, and OFI, a global leader in natural food and beverage ingredients and solutions, announced the launch of their largest-ever cocoa agroforestry partnership to tackle deforestation as well as reduce carbon emissions.
The initiative will support around 25,000 cocoa farmers across Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, and Nigeria in adopting agroforestry and climate-smart agricultural practices over a 5-year period. These activities are expected to cut carbon emissions by 1.5 million tons of CO2 over the next 30 years, as per OFI’s carbon footprinting experts.
The project plans to cultivate over 72,000 hectares of agroforestry, including planting 2.8 million trees, as part of a transition to regenerative agriculture. The baselines for these activities will be tracked through OFI’s AI-powered Carbon Stock Monitoring Tool. This can help in continuously monitoring geolocation of trees and ensuring they comply with the objectives set by Nestle and OFI.
The global partnership builds on 15 years of collaboration between Nestle and OFI in sustainable cocoa and marks their largest joint agroforestry initiative to date. It is intended to support Nestle’s Cocoa Plan and 2050 Net Zero targets, as well as OFI’s Cocoa Compass sustainability ambitions.
In the words of Darrell High, Nestle’s Cocoa Plan Manager, “We are striving to create a more responsible cocoa supply chain and progress towards our goals by supporting a move towards a more regenerative food system as well as helping farmers transition to climate-smart farming practices.”
The main aims of this project include
- Providing training to farmers on sustainable farming techniques, including good agricultural practices
- Educating farmers on wider environmental and sustainability issues, including those related to the EUDR regulations and African Regional Sustainability Standard on sustainable cocoa
- Offering financial incentives to farmers for planting and maintaining forest trees
- Promoting reforestation and carbon capture to improve biodiversity as well as enhance soil health, thereby contributing to a more sustainable and resilient cocoa supply chain
Implementation is already underway in the mentioned locations, accompanied by a series of comprehensive education and training exercises designed to assist farmers in adopting more forest-positive practices. The focus is on highlighting the benefits of agroforestry and carbon capture.
Increasing partnerships, such as that of Nestle-OFI, will likely play a key role in boosting the cocoa industry. According to Coherent Market Insights (CMI), the global cocoa market is poised to exhibit a CAGR of 4.9% during the assessment period, totaling US$ 19.59 billion by 2032.
Companies like Nestle and OFI are continuously increasing their efforts to create a more sustainable future for cocoa production. Industry experts believe that Nestle and OFI’s partnership could encourage other players to shift their preference towards sustainable cocoa production. This will further boost growth of the cocoa industry in the coming years.
“The cocoa industry is facing dual challenges of increased environmental pressures and rising end user demand. This is pushing it towards sustainable cocoa production, with companies like OFI and Nestle leading from the forefront,” says a senior analyst at CMI.
The landmark Nestle-OFI partnership is expected to positively impact growth of the global cocoa industry. This is because sustainability has become a top priority for consumers and regulators in the modern world. The partnership will set new industry benchmarks through large-scale agroforestry and carbon footprint reduction.
The Nestle-OFI partnership could act as a blueprint for adoption of sustainable cocoa sourcing. Other industry players are expected to increase their sustainability initiatives to meet evolving consumer demand. They may also start forming alliances and investing in advanced agri-tech tools to enhance traceability, improve yield, and reduce environmental impact throughout the cocoa supply chain.
Sources:
Multimedia Company: FoodBev Media Ltd
Company: OFI
