2012-01-31 13:17:55 -

Cocoa Farmers in Cote d'Ivoire to Be Trained in Sustainable Cocoa Farming in
Cooperation With Cargill

COLOGNE, GERMANY and VEURNE, BELGIUM and AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire
- January 31, 2012) - The Dutch-Belgian chocolate manufacturer Baronie and the
long-standing German company Stollwerck -- both subsidiaries of Belgium's Sweet
Products Group -- are now supporting an extensive training program for Ivorian
cocoa farmers, which the chocolate supplier Cargill is to implement at local
level as part of the Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program, together with partners
such as Anader and Solidaridad. The program is intended to empower farmers to
increase the cocoa crop yield on a permanent basis and to achieve harvests of a
better quality. Consequently, the training measures are also intended to
contribute to an improvement in the incomes of farmers.

The program   is initially intended to run for a period of four years. An integral
part of the so-called "Farmer Field Schools" -- practical trainings onsite -- is
that the participating farms obtain certification for sustainable cocoa
cultivation from UTZ CERTIFIED. In total the project is to promote two cocoa
cooperatives close to Gagnoa, which each have between 400 and 500 cocoa farmers.

The training courses, each of which lasts ten months and takes the form of
intensive half-day units, primarily cover the conversion to sustainable
agricultural practices and consideration of numerous social issues. Thus the
training units attended by the cocoa farmers will, among other things, cover the
care of cocoa trees, including pruning techniques and regeneration measures,
preventive disease control, and above the early detection of "black pod" and
other cocoa diseases, the use of fertilizers, harvesting when the fruit have
reached their optimum ripeness, and the professional post-harvest treatment,
including fermentation and drying of the beans so as to avoid a deterioration in
the quality of raw materials. Furthermore, the farmers are to learn to
seamlessly document all the necessary steps.

A further aspect of the training covers social issues such as raised awareness
of HIV, responsible working conditions, the fundamental significance of school
education for children, and intolerance of child labor.

All of the 900 cocoa farmers will have successfully completed the training
program in time for the 2012/2013 harvest that starts on October 2012. It is the
aim of this project that all of them already reached the level required for UTZ
CERTIFIED certification by then.

At present the two cooperatives "Cooperative Agricole de Guibéroua" and
"Coopérative des Producteurs de Béhibrokro" being supported by Stollwerck and
Baronie supply some 1,700 tons of cocoa during this harvest. Cargill, which will
implement the training courses together with local partners, expects an average
increase of 30 percent in the crop yield with a clear upturn in quality.

"Baronie and Stollwerck themselves support development initiatives at grass
roots level so as to contribute to more and more farmers being able to convert
from conventional to sustainable cocoa farming and thus enhance their
opportunities for economic survival. An increase in profitability not only
secures a livelihood for farmers and their families, but also helps ensure that
farmers will enjoy cultivating cocoa in the future," said Jean-Marie van
Logtestijn, Sweet Products Spokesperson.

The project partners have agreed to provide information on the progress of the
training program at regular intervals. The reporting is intended to guarantee
more transparency and understanding among European customers for the framework
conditions in the cultivation of cocoa.

About Stollwerck:
Stollwerck GmbH, headquartered in Cologne, is a leading manufacturer of
chocolate products such as chocolate tablets, boxed assortments and truffles, as
well as small bites and chocolate bars. The company boasts a tradition going
back 170 years, with extensive competence and experience in the use of cocoa and
chocolate raw materials and ingredients. Since October 2011 Stollwerck has been
owned by the Belgian company Sweet Products. Stollwerck produces at a number of
sites, primarily in Germany, and has a focused brand portfolio, which includes
the leading umbrella brand SAROTTI, which still ranks among the brands best
known to consumers, Alpia and Alprose.
www.stollwerck.de

About Sweet Products und Baronie:
Sweet Products is a privately-owned family-run Belgian company and the parent
company of the Baronie Group. Baronie -- originally Dutch -- manufactures a wide
range of chocolate products for its national and international customer base.
The production sector encompasses branded and private label products, as well as
commissioned production of brand-name chocolate. The range encompasses day-to-
day chocolate (Belgian boxed assortments, fruits de mer and tablet chocolate)
through to seasonal chocolate products for Christmas and Easter. Baronie owns
and operates four state-of-the-art production facilities in the Netherlands and
Belgium, as well as an ultra-modern logistics center in Belgium for the
warehousing and co-packing activities. All this has made Baronie a strategic
partner for major European retailers, to whom it offers branded and private
label products.
www.baronie.com

About Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate offers the food industry a wide range of both standard
and customised cocoa and chocolate ingredients to be used in delicious bakery,
confectionery, and dairy applications all over the world. Its facilities in
Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Ghana, the Netherlands,
UK and the USA are fully dedicated to produce in accordance with the highest
food safety standards.

To secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans Cargill has their
own cocoa bean sourcing operations for buying, handling and/or exporting of
cocoa beans in Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia and Vietnam. Presence
in all the leading producing countries allows Cargill to oversee the supply
chain from beans at origin to cocoa and chocolate products on our customers'
doorstep. In addition, extensive market research and analysis proves to be a
source of valuable information to our customers.

For more information visit: for EMEA www.cargillcocoachocolate.com and for North
America www.cargill.com/food/cocoachocolate

The Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program
The Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program ensures a better life for cocoa farmers
and their families and strengthens the cocoa supply chain for the future, based
on fundamentals of exercising good agricultural practices. It increases farmer
incomes through efficient cocoa production.

Contact Information

Contact Sweet Products NV for the media:
Jean-Marie van Logtestijn
Spokesperson Sweet Products
Telephone: + 32 58 310150
logtestijn@baronie.com







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Source: Sweet Product NV via Thomson Reuters ONE

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