by OMO FOREST RESERVE, Nigeria (AP) — The habitat of a dwindling population of critically endangered African forest elephants is under threat, a victim of the global appetite for chocolate.
Deforestation driven by the plantation of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, is shrinking the Omo Forest Reserve, a protected rainforest in southwestern Nigeria that helps combat climate change and is one of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. oldest and largest in Africa. Farmers are expanding into conservation areas where cocoa cultivation is prohibited, conservation officials say.
The Associated Press spoke with 20 farmers, two brokers and five licensed buying agents who grow and sell cocoa from the reserve to determine where the cocoa beans used in Christmas sweets are headed.
Here are takeaways from the AP investigation:
COMPANIES TAKE COCOA FROM THE FOREST
The AP visited plantations and warehouses of farmers and authorized purchasing agents who acknowledge that they operate illegally in the reserve’s conservation area. AP also spoke with brokers who work in the forest and visited facilities belonging to important cocoa marketing companies on the outskirts of the reserve.
They say they supply Singapore-based Olam Group and Nigeria’s Starlink Global and Ideal Limited, the latter of which ships cocoa to General Cocoa in the United States. A smaller number, called Tulip Cocoa Processing Limited, are connected to Dutch traders.
“We buy from farmers and sell to big companies that export like Olam, Starlink,” said Deborah Fabiyi, manager of Kadet Agro-Allied Investments Limited, an authorized purchasing agent in the conservation area.
These large trading companies supply Nigerian cocoa to large chocolate manufacturers such as Mars Inc. and Ferrero, but because the chocolate supply chain is so complex and opaque, it is not clear whether cocoa from the deforested areas of the Forest Reserve Omo is used in the sweets they make. , such as Snickers, M&Ms, Butterfinger and Nutella. Mars and Ferrero list agricultural sources on their websites that are near or overlap with the forest, but do not offer specific locations.
In October, the AP followed a van loaded with bags of cocoa beans from the conservation area to an Olam warehouse outside the forest entrance. Olam confirmed that the facilities were his.
The AP also photographed bags of cocoa labeled with the names and logo of Olam and Tulip inside farmers’ warehouses within the conservation zone. In an interview with AP, Starlink acknowledged that it obtains cocoa from the Omo Forest Reserve.
REASONS BEHIND THE WORK
An estimated 1.4 million people in Nigeria, equivalent to about half of Nevada’s population, depend on cocoa production for their livelihoods, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. But aging cocoa trees are becoming less productive, pushing farmers to the Omo reserve.
“Deforestation caused by cocoa expansion is also due to the global demand for cocoa to make chocolate,” said Emmanuel Olabode, a conservation manager who supervises the reserve’s rangers. “It’s astronomical.”
The forest rangers blame the state government that owns the forest for not enforcing the law prohibiting cocoa cultivation. Several buildings in the conservation zone, including farmers’ houses and warehouses, have been marked for removal by the government, but that has not happened.
The Ogun State government acknowledged “the threat” of “illegal” cocoa cultivation in the forest and told the AP it had forcibly evicted the farmers in 2007 before they returned.
WHAT DO COMPANIES SAY?
OLAM
The Singapore-based food conglomerate says it “prohibits” members of its “Ore Agbe Ijebu” farmers group from “sourcing from protected areas.”
“Any suppliers found illegally deforesting will be removed from our supply chain,” Olam Food Ingredients or Ofi said in a statement to the AP, adding that it is “investigating thoroughly.”
The company says it visits all farms to take GPS coordinates and meets with each farmer to agree on boundaries that are often unmarked.
Farmers who say they sell cocoa from the forest to Olam said they are not members of the Ore Agbe Ijebu farming group and had not heard of it.
TULIP
Tulip said it is “confident” its supplies do not come from protected areas. He says his cocoa is certified by the Rainforest Alliance, which verifies compliance with sustainability standards, and uses GPS maps of the farms.
Tulip CEO Johan van der Merwe said “field operatives” complete digital sourcing questionnaires with all farmers and suppliers. He also says that Tulip’s cocoa bags are reused and widely distributed, so they may be seen all over Nigeria.
Farmers and buying agents who say they sell cocoa to Tulip told the AP they were not asked to fill out any questionnaires before purchasing their cocoa.
STAR LINK
The company sources cocoa from the reserve, spokesman Sambo Abubakar told the AP. Although Starlink makes no sustainable sourcing claims on its website, it supplies at least one company that does: General Cocoa, the US subsidiary of Paris-based Sucden.
Starlink has a “traceability program to determine cocoa quality, meet farmers and sensitize them on best practices,” Abubakar said.
But this program has not yet been extended to Omo reserve and Ogun State, he said.
FERRERO
Ferrero says its supplies follow “strict requirements” that are independently certified, adding that GPS mapping and satellite monitoring of farms show its “Nigerian cocoa sourcing does not come from protected forest areas.”
The company that makes Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger and Crunch bars said the cocoa it sources from Ofi through the Ore Agbe Ijebu farming group is verified by the certification body Control Union.
The Netherlands-based body said it assessed a sample of farms against Ofi’s own sustainability policies and that “the specific criteria and protocols set out in the verification exercise are set by Ofi”.
Control Union said it would not reveal the results to the AP, citing privacy.
MARS
The company says its suppliers follow the standards of Mars’ deforestation policy and that it is committed to ensuring that “100% of our cocoa is responsibly sourced globally and traceable to the first point of purchase by 2025.” .
It says farms that are part of its Responsibly Sourced Cocoa program are “expected” to be mapped, allowing the company behind Snickers, M&Ms, Dove, Twix and Milky Way to hold suppliers accountable if production is suspected. deforestation.
Mars says its preliminary findings show that none of the mapped farms overlap with the reserve.
GENERAL COCOA
Jean-Baptiste Lescop, secretary general of the Sucden Group, says the company manages risks to forest conservation by sourcing cocoa from the Rainforest Alliance, mapping farms and using satellite images, but that it is an “ongoing process” because most farmers in Nigeria do not have official land. property documents.
The company is investigating reports of problems and is working on a response to the AP’s findings about Starlink, he said.
RITTER SPORT
The German chocolate company sources cocoa from Nigeria and uses Olam, but has not revealed specific locations where its supplies come from in Nigeria. He told the AP that Olam confirmed its supplies were outside of deforested forests.
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