Sustainable Origins™ Strategy
Blommer Chocolate works closely with our customers, suppliers, international organizations and implementation partners on customized sustainability programs. First initiated in 2004, they now cover about 61% of the cocoa we source globally, and 78% of the cocoa we source from West Africa.
Improving Livelihoods
Our Sustainable Origins™ programs aim at enhancing the overall living conditions of our farming partners and their communities. Paying premiums to the cocoa farmers and the cooperatives directly support this effort, but our commitments to cocoa growing communities go further as we work on empowering woman, increasing household’s income, and improving access to education, healthcare and clean and safe water in rural cocoa communities.
Community Development Activities
At the core of our programs are woman: we strongly believe that families and communities are stronger and healthier when woman are empowered. We increase economic opportunities for woman through Village Savings and Loan Associations, Income Generating Activities and Literacy training. You can learn more about our activities around Woman Empowerment here.
The second pillar of our Community Development activities is facilitating the construction of social infrastructure projects that will serve thousands of individuals, such as school buildings, health centers, maternity wards, or water access. We work side by side with cocoa farmer organizations, their members and the local governments in identifying the community needs, and ensuring that once operational, the project and infrastructures will be managed at the local level and will benefit the communities long into the future.
Farmers and Cooperatives Premiums
To reward for loyalty and standard compliance, farmers and cooperatives of our Sustainable Origins™ programs receive premiums for the cocoa we purchase from them.
The farmer premiums directly contribute to increasing household income by ensuring they are being paid a fair value for their crop. The cooperative premiums allow farmers organizations to strengthen the governance and processes in place to ensure a traceable and sustainable cocoa bean supply chain.
Cooperatives are also encouraged to reinvest 10% or more of their respective premiums for social initiatives such as the construction or rehabilitation of classrooms, school canteens or water pumps which benefit cocoa farming communities at large.