Kennemer Foods International (KFI) provides a valuable safety net to cocoa farmers

KFI joins the Business Call to Action with initiative in the Philippines

New York/Manila, 17 December 2014 - Kennemer Foods International, Inc. (KFI), a growing consolidator and supplier of cocoa beans to the international market, has announced its commitment to the Business Call to Action. The company has created an initiative to integrate 35,000 smallholder famers into their value chain by 2020.

With ideal agronomic and climactic conditions and a large number of smallholder farmers, the Philippines is well positioned to be a stronger producer in the cocoa market. By utilizing contract-growing and buy-back guarantee agreements with small-holder cacao farmers, KFI is providing training and helping provide effective technology and practices to increase the income of rural farmers.

"KFI's strategy is an important model designed to empower local farmers to increase their harvests but more importantly it helps demonstrate the value that technical training can deliver. By building this more inclusive approach to increase cocoa production, small scale farmers gain purchasing power and are better equipped to deliver and expand their production, said Suba Sivakumaran, Progamme Manager, Business Call to Action.

The main focus of KFI is to produce and export high quality fermented cocoa beans. The company is setting up a more reliable supply of cocoa beans from the Philippines through comprehensive farmer training and knowledge sharing of best practices. Working in partnership with the local government in the region, KFI will set-up 10 Provincial Cacao hubs mostly located in Mindanao.

The company has also pioneered the implementation of the Cocoa Doctor Network in the Philippines. The network is based on the Mars cocoa sector development model designed to support smallholder based production. Piloted in Indonesia and West Africa and now underway in the Philippines, the program provides specialized cocoa knowledge and technology approaches proven to be high yielding and pest resistant to farmers.

Kennemer Foods is pleased to showcase the work that we have been doing in the Philippines in an effort to ensure that farmers are integrated into our value chain and support them in their efforts to properly develop, maintain and invest in their farms.," said Simon Bakker, CEO Kennemer Foods International.

It is estimated that by supporting the smallholder cocoa famers in their production efforts, they will increase their incomes by an estimated $3600 per year. In addition, going forward, the company plans to train and certify 1,300 cocoa doctors in the Philippines by 2020.