Esselunga continues its commitment to sustainability: by 2025 it will use 100% guaranteed fair trade cocoa for its production for all its private label products. The initiative was created to ensure the physical traceability of cocoa beans with blockchain technology, from the harvesting field to the finished product, guaranteeing quality and transparency to its customers through the tracking of raw materials and at the same time supporting the communities involved in the cocoa cultivation.
With the “Sustainable cocoa” project, Esselunga has set itself the dual objective of purchasing sustainable cocoa from cocoa cooperatives in various countries, including Togo, to guarantee farmers a fair economic and social treatment and to finance, in parallel, projects sustenance based on the real needs of local communities.
The social conditions of the Togolese population are, in fact, characterized by a strong backwardness: illiteracy, infant mortality and the precariousness of women’s lives are just some of the many problems that afflict the area.
For the development of the project Esselunga availed itself of the collaboration of important companies such as Altromercato, the main Fair Trade reality in Italy, and Gebana, its partner in Togo who works directly with the farmers, offering them continuous support. Fundamental was the generosity of Esselunga’s customers who, thanks to their Fìdaty points, allowed the company to collect 560,000 euros, which will add up to another 575,000 euros
allocated by the company for a total investment of 1,135,000 euros over five years, to be allocated to livelihood projects for local communities.
These important donations will allow the realization of numerous initiatives, such as the creation of field schools for teaching good agricultural practices to improve crop yields, crop diversification to generate alternative sources of income, the development and organization of the phases of post harvest of cocoa to improve its quality, as well as technological development to allow the optimization of crop management and payments to farmers.