The cocoa tree - Theobroma Cacao - grows in the warm and humid equatorial belt within 10° N and 10° S of the equator. Although the exact origins of the tree are disputed, it can be traced to the tropical regions of Venezuela, Honduras and Mexico. Today, cocoa is cultivated globally in a narrow belt around the equator, with Ivory Coast and Ghana being the most important cocoa producers, followed by Indonesia.
West Africa
is the main overall cocoa supplier, with more than 70% of the world’s cocoa crop. Cocoa cultivation represents an important source of income for West African farmers.
The traditional cocoa farm in West Africa is small and family-owned and operated. It is estimated that there are about 1.2 to 1.5 million such smallholdings across West Africa, supporting more than 10 million people.
Barry Callebaut has no plantations of its own, neither in the Ivory Coast, in Ghana, in Cameroon nor anywhere else in the world. Typically, we buy the cocoa beans from intermediaries and process them in our factories.
