Nestlé Taps Fair Labor Association to Map Cocoa Supply Chain
Posted: November 29, 2011 | Author: fairlaborassn | Filed under: Across the Globe, corporate social responsibility | Tags: children cocoa, chocolate production, cocoa harvest Cote d'Ivoire, cocoa supply chain, Ivory Coast, Nestle child labor |1 Comment »Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, has partnered with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to assess its cocoa supply chain in West Africa and to identify whether children are working on the farms. With the cocoa harvest fast approaching, this project will launch in December as Nestlé prepares its application to join the FLA as a Participating Company.
Beginning in January, the FLA will send a team of independent assessors to Côte d’Ivoire to map the cocoa supply chain. With approximately 800,000 cocoa farms in the country, companies have struggled to establish where their cocoa comes from and under what conditions it was farmed. The FLA’s methodology will bring consistency and transparency to the process, providing Nestlé with the information needed to eliminate instances of child labor in its supply chain. As part of the project, the FLA will publish an assessment report along with Nestlé’s corrective action plan to address any labor-related issues identified during the investigation. The FLA will then track the company’s progress in implementing the plan and verify remediation.
The FLA has been active in the agricultural sector since 2004, and has helped greatly reduce the risks of child labor and other labor rights violations on farms in several countries, including India, Pakistan, Mali and Romania. Read the FLA’s statement about the project and watch the BBC report.
Congrats to Nestlé! I used to live in Ghana and I remember the difficult conditions of life in cocoa farms in West Africa, it’s a good step towards Sustainable Supply Chains.