As of January 2019, The Forest Trust has become Earthworm Foundation.

Where is their supply chain?

We will support them to strengthen farming practices in cocoa producing countries in their supply chain, including Ecuador, Ghana and Madagascar.

The importance of smallholder farmers

Cocoa is grown almost exclusively by smallholder farmers. Improving farmer practices ties in with the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, which focuses on traceability and supporting farmers and their communities. We will work together to ensure agricultural, social, environmental and business practices are monitored and continually improved upon at farm level in the company’s cocoa supply chain.

Ultimate aim

The ultimate aim is to have a positive impact on sustainable agricultural development, particularly the livelihoods of the farmers and their families. TFT’s Rurality programme, which works to empower smallholder farmers, will be used to further enable the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.

The focus

Here we will focus on farmer organisation and traceability, training, community development and farmer investments. We will also evaluate and provide recommendations about an internal performance monitoring system which assesses the impact of training and gauges farmers’ understanding of techniques. TFT will bring a level of verification to the Farming Program and give recommendations and support for implementation and continuous improvement through engagement with the farmers.

Stakeholder knowledge

The TFT team will also draw upon the knowledge of other local stakeholders (including civil society) as well as experts who are very familiar with the local area. They can often provide reliable data related to main livelihood strategies, and environment conservation is particularly valuable. Information provided through reports and interviews will be cross-checked for accuracy through field visits.

We look forward to communicating our progress together.