The supply chain of cocoa is very complex. Over 90% of all cocoa comes from some three million small family farmers who depend on cocoa production for their livelihoods. Our support is designed to ensure future supplies of cocoa and involve ourselves responsibly so that communities growing cocoa can prosper and the environment where cocoa is grown remains sustainable. Since 2001 Mars has played a leadership role in the global cocoa and chocolate industry's efforts to address allegations of child abuse on the cocoa farms of West Africa. We are working with the national governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana (the world's largest cocoa growing countries), labour experts and community-based organisations to support the establishment of a certification process to ensure that cocoa is farmed free from the worst forms of child labor. This certification process began in July 2008, and initially covers 50% of the cocoa growing regions of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Achieving real change requires working in partnership with others. To support that approach, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), an independent voice dedicated to eradicating abusive child and forced labor in cocoa production worldwide, was established in 2002. As a registered charity, the ICI's Board of Directors represents a wide range of stakeholders: human rights and child labor organisations, trade unions, local groups in the cocoa growing countries, and the cocoa and chocolate industry. As a member of the International Cocoa Initiative's (ICI) Board of Directors and their membership in UTZ Certified, Mars is committed to eradicate child labor and abduction. The ICI is making considerable progress towards improving labor conditions in the cocoa growing regions of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.

To learn more, please visit http://www.cocoasustainability.mars.com/