For the first time ever, the cocoa conference starts with a farmer panel and cocoa farmers will be invited to voice their opinions on themes such as agroforestry, sustainability ambitions of their respective countries, forest conservation and restoration, EUDR and income diversification.

With representatives from cocoa-growing countries and cocoa farming communities, the programme includes government representatives from Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana, as well as government representatives from the European Union and the United States. Themes being covered range from EUDR, traceability to farmer incomes and global strategies for forest restoration and conservation.

This year, World Cocoa Foundation is teaming up with CHOCOA, the foremost industry conference for better chocolate, to create a weeklong Amsterdam Cocoa Week with all events taking place at the Beurs van Berlage February 5-11, 2024. As the largest cocoa port in the world, Amsterdam is the hub connecting producers and consumers. It also serves as a centre for innovative thinking on sustainability in the cocoa supply chain.

Chris Vincent, President of World Cocoa Foundation says “Combining our World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Meeting and CHOCOA will propel us into 2024 in exciting fashion. It will allow all of us globally across the sector to align and find new ways forward as we transition toward the shared objective of truly sustainable cocoa.”

The Partnership Meeting event has strong sponsorship from WCF company members with MARS as Platinum sponsor and Cargill as Gold. Silver sponsors are Barry Callebaut, Cordillera, Lindt & Sprüngli, Mondel?z International, and Nestlé.