We compose our bean blend with cocoa beans from 3 different countries, to achieve the balanced taste. The beans we source from Ivory Coast, yield the typical solid cocoa body and intense chocolate taste in our chocolate.
HOW WE DIRECTLY SOURCE FROM FARMER COOPERATIVES IN IVORY COAST
In Ivory Coast In Ivory Coast, we directly source high quality, main crop cocoa beans from 69 farmer cooperatives. The beans are collected in the cooperative warehouse where they undergo first quality checks. From there, the beans are centralised by the local Callebaut logistics centres who apply thorough quality assessment on bean size, moisture content, bean fermentation, etc. before they arrive in the port for shipment to Belgium.
COOPERATIVES AND FARMERS IN IVORY COAST
We directly source cocoa beans from:
- 69 cooperatives in total
- 54 cooperatives are Cocoa Horizons certified
- 6 cooperatives are underway to certification
- Farmers connected to 58 cooperatives receive training and coaching by the Cocoa Horizons Foundation
• The cooperatives we partner with in Ivory Coast, represent over 32.000 farms and employ over 58.000 farmers: cocoa cultivation accounts for an important part of the Ivorian farmer families’ livelihoods
LOCATION
Cocoa cultivation is situated in the southern belt of Ivory Coast, stretching over the entire width of the country. The area around Yamoussoukro is the area where most of the cocoa cooperatives are located.
TRACEABILITY
In the Ivorian collection centres, every incoming bag of cocoa beans is registered together with the cooperative who provided the beans. The cooperatives themselves apply an analogue/handwritten register and can allocate every bag to the farmer who grew the beans. To date, we can process all data, up to the level of the cooperatives who collected the beans from the farmers.