Our Cocoa Bean Origins

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, producing around 800,000 tons of Forastero cocoa annually – almost 20% of the world’s harvest. Cocoa from Ghana is known for its high quality, due to its higher fat content and low breakage rate. In order to maintain this, Ghana carries out comprehensive and stringent quality controls. Most of the cocoa is produced by small farmers cultivating areas of just two to three hectares. It is estimated that cocoa cultivation provides a livelihood for around 1,000,000 households.

Ghana is Lindt & Sprüngli's major cocoa bean origin and therefore also the first country in which the newly developed sustainability program was established in 2008. Since its inception, the Farming Program has taken a holistic approach to improve the livelihoods of the farmers and intensify cocoa cultivation sustainably. The Program has now been implemented by our local partners in all the 51 districts we source cocoa beans from. 510 field staff support 78,198 farmers in our Program.

Ecuador is the world’s largest and most important producer of fine-flavor cocoa and is responsible for two-thirds of global fine-flavor cocoa production. The cocoa is grown by around 350,000 cocoa farmers whose farms sizes range from one to ten hectares.

Ecuador is our major fine-flavor cocoa supplier and has been part of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program since 2014. In the 2021/22 season, a total of 9,146 farmers and 43 field staff are part of the Program.

Madagascar is a fine-flavor cocoa producer whose cocoa is distinguished by a particularly wide variety of flavors and is considered to be of very high quality. Around 33,000 cocoa farmers currently produce approximately 14,000 tons of cocoa a year, which equates to around only 0,5% of the global harvest. Cultivation is concentrated in the northwest of the country and is mostly grown according to organic criteria.

The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program was established in Madagascar in 2015. In the 2021/22 cocoa season, 2,274 cocoa farmers were involved in our Program, supported and trained by 15 field staff.

Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s youngest producers of fine flavor cocoa. On the second largest island in the world, over 85% of the population live in rural areas and are largely dependent on small-scale agriculture. Besides coffee, cocoa is the country’s most important crop and the source of income for more than half a million households. Around 120,000 cocoa farmers produce 35,000 tons of fine-flavor cocoa.

Papua New Guinea joined the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in 2017. Our Program reached 4,544 farmers in the 2021/22 cocoa season and is being implemented by 20 field staff.

Alongside the cultivation of coffee, cocoa cultivation is the major source of income of around 40,000 smallscale farmers in the Dominican Republic. The island state’s cocoa production is characterized by high-quality fine-flavor cocoa beans with a fruity acidic taste, most of which are grown organically in agroforestry systems.

Cooperation with our implementation partner in the Dominican Republic began in 2018. The Program currently covers 864 farmers who are supported by four field staff.

Peru is the second largest producer of fine-flavor cocoa in the world: Over 50,000 Peruvians work in the cocoa industry. The main harvesting season takes place from April until August. Peruvian cocoa mainly grows in the regions between the Andes and the Amazonas rainforest. The different natural cultivation regions are one of the things that sets it apart from all others. Because it grows in such incredibly diverse areas, the plant encounters many species, soils and climates. This results in an unparalleled spectrum of unique flavor and high quality.

Peru has been part of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program since the beginning of 2021. In the 2021/22 cocoa season, 850 farmers were part of the Program, supported by six field staff.

Côte d'Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast, is the world's largest producer of cocoa – in the 2020/21 season, over 2.2 million tons of cocoa beans were harvested here. Together, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are responsible for two-thirds of global cocoa production. For this reason, the country is also highly dependent on cocoa production, which accounts for around 40% of its national export revenues.

Cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire is mainly cultivated by small farmers on 1-3 hectares of land. The main harvesting season takes place from October to March. With Côte d'Ivoire, Lindt & Sprüngli extended the Farming Program in 2021 to cocoa butter, which is sourced from the West African country. In the 2021/22 season, the program included 16,926 farmers and 419 field staff.