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Sucden Cocoa adapts its processes in the Covid-19 context

In the virus outbreak context, Sucden takes actions to reduce infection risk of people involved in its cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

Sucden Cocoa recognizes the health risks that Covid-19 creates for everyone. We are particularly focused on protecting our employees and our operational partners living and working in the cocoa producing countries of West Africa.

We have implemented procedures to reduce the risk of infection for employees, farmers and farmer organizations that provide cocoa within our supply chains in the Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

Our current procedures are based on the most contemporaneous scientific information available. Noting that scientific understanding of the virus is changing rapidly, we use the World Health Organization (WHO) as the basis of our recommendations.

All Sucden employees who live and work in Abidjan, Accra, Kumasi and Lagos state have curtailed travel to cocoa producing regions.

In addition, we are communicating the best advice available either telephonically or electronically with the farmer organizations with whom we operate.  These communications encourage management to follow the guidelines announced by National Authorities and the appropriate advice provided by WHO.

Where any differences in guidelines may exist, our suggestion is always to take the more conservative approach for the protection of suppliers’ health and that of their families.

We are encouraging each organization to make information available to each farmer participant and their family in a safe manner, in keeping with local restrictions.

We are giving strong assurances that Sucden will continue to work with our partners for the duration of the pandemic – and that we will also support them when the current situation returns to normal.

We will monitor the situation and adapt any recommended practices and communications to employees, farmers and organizations as warranted by the current scientific advice developed at the time.