Sustainability

Nestlé's Cacao Plan program in Ecuador attracts 300 farmers in bid to professionalize local agricultural workforce

By Anthony Myers

- Last updated on GMT

Trainees attend Nestlé's Escuela Podadores school. Pic: Nestlé
Trainees attend Nestlé's Escuela Podadores school. Pic: Nestlé

Related tags Nestlé Sustainability

New promotion, "Forming Cocoa Pruners and Graders", will help cocoa farmers to manage crops, receive instruction on best practices, and plant physiology.

Nestlé's Cacao Plan program in Ecuador continues with a second cocoa farmers' promotion in the "Forming Cocoa Pruning and Pruning" schools in the city of Mocache, province of Los Ríos.

The school will train farmers for a period of six months, where they can learn skills such as: how to recognize the optimal conditions of the cocoa crop; pruning types; use and maintenance of tools, machinery and supplies for cocoa pruning.

Attendees will also learn about control of pests and diseases, and the exchange of experiences in pruning of cocoa in the experimental farm "Chollo" of R & D Tours of Nestlé. They will also be offered guidance on selection of new shoots after pruning and plant physiology.

Nestlé' said its Cocoa Plan is part of the group’s  ‘Shared Value Creation’ strategy, whose main objective is to ensure the responsible and sustainable supply of cocoa, through an inclusive business modality that seeks to improve the social, environmental and economic conditions of cocoa farmers, their families and local communities.

This year’s initiative will be attended by 300 farmers, who will graduate in December of this year.

The program began with the first promotion in 2017, and seeks to professionalize the local agricultural workforce, improve the production of the farms of registered farmers, and is part of Nestlé’s commitment to work with proposals that help improve the quality of life of communities in Ecuador.

The scheme is also designed to generate jobs in rural areas and allow the hiring of trained personnel to perform specialized jobs in cocoa plantations in the sectors of Quevedo, Mocache, Vinces, El Empalme, Naranjito, La Troncal, Chone, and Santo Domingo, Esmeraldas.

Related topics Nestle Sustainable Sourcing

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