Cacao-Trace

It starts by selecting a farming community and committing to buy 100% of their cocoa beans at a premium price. Belcolade trains farmers and work hand-in-hand with them to help them deliver wet beans of the highest quality. Belcolade also invest in local Post-Harvest Centers equipped with professional fermentation and drying equipment. There, the wet beans are fermented in an optimized process by well-trained master fermenters to deliver superior quality beans – and ultimately to enable our customers to produce chocolate of a great taste. 

 

Belcolade offers Cacao-Trace farmers a Quality Premium to reward them for the high-quality wet beans they deliver. Cacao-Trace also ensures that farmers receive the Chocolate Bonus, which is 10 Eurocents collected for every kg of Cacao-Trace chocolate sold and is paid 100% back to farmers. 

 

Belcolade is committed to making the lives of our Cacao-Trace farmers better by ensuring that their revenue increases. Together, the Quality Premium and the Chocolate Bonus result in 2-5 months of additional revenue for them. 

 

Belcolade also improves the environment and living conditions of our farmers' communities. How? Building schools, providing school kits to kids and teachers, all to improve education. Building health centers and offering drinkable water equipment, to improve their health.

The better the beans, the better the chocolate

At each step of the bean processing, we apply our four-pillar strategy. Belcolade defines high-quality standards, develops adapted professional equipment, defines the right process, and empowers local people for a long-term impact.

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  1. High-Quality Standards
  2. Professional Equipment
  3. Optimized Process
  4. Empowered People

Addressing the cocoa supply chain challenges

To ensure chocolate remains a joy, Cacao-Trace goes beyond industry norms, actively tackling challenges in the cocoa supply chain.

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  1. Farmers Poverty: 90% of farmers live below the living income line.
  2. Child Labor: 1.5 million children experiencing child labor in Ivory Coast and Ghana. 
  3. Deforestation: 28% of primary forest was lost in the past 20 years in Ivory Coast.
  4. Quality Inconsistency: Inconsistent quality, presence of foreign matters, high count of free fatty acids, and under-fermented beans.

The Cacao-Trace standard

The Cacao-Trace standard is built on a rigorous three-year verification cycle, including initial, surveillance, and re-verification audits. These external audits, conducted by Control Union, on an annual basis to ensure unbiased feedback and high-quality cocoa production.

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The commitment to continuous improvement makes the Cacao-Trace standard unique. It evolves through insights from ground programs, auditor suggestions, due diligence, market priorities, and global initiatives like the Cocoa Forest Initiative and regulatory compliance, such as EUDR (European Deforestation Regulation).

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This dynamic approach ensures Belcolade consistently delivers excellence and sustainability in cocoa farming.

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