Belgian fair trade chocolate
Colruyt Group has focused on sustainable cocoa for some time. All of our private label chocolate products have a sustainability label and, through two international chain projects, we buy cocoa directly from the farmers. We are also a member of the Belgian Beyond Chocolate sector platform that strives for sustainable and fair cocoa production.
At Colruyt Group we aim for 100% certified cocoa in all chocolate and chocolate products of our private labels such as Boni or Everyday. In addition, through international chain projects in Nicaragua and Ivory Coast, we buy cocoa directly from local cooperatives.
of our own chocolate products (Boni, Everyday) is certified
Boni: Fairtrade Sourced Ingredient label
Our Boni chocolate is FSI-certified: Fairtrade Sourced Ingredient. This label is used to indicate a single ingredient produced and sold under Fairtrade conditions, in this case cocoa. Fairtrade guarantees, among other things, good working conditions and a fixed minimum price for farmers. Our Boni Selection Bio-chocolate has both the Bio- as well as the Fairtrade label.
Everyday: Rainforest Alliance
The chocolate products of our Everyday brand carry the Rainforest Alliance-label. This certificate guarantees good and safe working conditions for cocoa producers, cultivation methods with a low impact on the environment and attention to biodiversity and nature conservation (deforestation, water pollution, waste management, etc.). The programme helps farmers who grow cocoa on a small scale to improve their cultivation methods to significantly improve the quality of their cocoa beans and productivity.
Living income in Ivory Coast
In Ivory Coast, in collaboration with several partners (the IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative, producer Puratos, development organisation Rikolto, certification organisation Fairtrade, the Ivorian cooperative ECSP and the training centres Agro-Insight and Access Agriculture), we are working on building a sustainable cocoa chain. From 2020 to 2023, we invested in direct cooperation with cooperative ECSP and various chain actors (Olam, Puratos) for the Boni chocolate bar 72% pure. We started with the annual purchase of 100 tonnes of cocoa, for which we pay a living income reference price.
On top of the market price, we pay the Fairtrade minimum price, a quality premium and a living income differential. That total price goes directly to the farmer. The cooperative also receives a fair trade premium to invest in community projects. A living income for cocoa farmers is also an objective of the Belgian sector agreement Beyond Chocolate, which we co-signed in 2019.
The results of this project were drafted in an impact report by our partner Impact Institute. The farmers involved saw a 38% increase in income from cocoa, but the report shows there are still challenges ahead. A good price is an important prerequisite for the sustainability of the sector, but by itself not enough to achieve a living income.
Together with Fairtrade and Puratos, we are therefore scaling up the project to the full range of Boni chocolate bars, to further increase our impact. We are also developing campaigns around reforestation, excluding child labour, generating income from other activities ... With this living income model, we want to inspire other actors in the sector and Ivory Coast to work together to make the sector sustainable.
Nicaragua: support for young cocoa farmers
Since 2017, we have also supported a chain project in cooperation with Rikolto in Nicaragua. We buy cocoa there directly from 200 young farmers, united in the La Campesina cooperative. We process this cocoa into Boni-chocolate (milk and fondant) which we offer for sale in our stores. Our guaranteed purchase of cocoa allows farmers to organise themselves more effectively. The training and guidance we provide – with the support of our Colruyt Group Foundation – make them independent, also financially, so that young Nicaraguans can take full advantage of opportunities in the cocoa sector. This international chain project serves as additional motivation for young people to continue growing cocoa.
