In our busy lives we instinctively know that taking a break is good for us, helping to boost our productivity, energy, and ability to focus.
If it’s a break with a little treat involved, all the better.
That was part of the genius behind Nestlé's famous KitKat advertising campaign, Have a break, have a KitKat, which helped make the four-fingered chocolate bar become synonymous with a well-earned chance to rest up.
It’s become part of our language.
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But if breaks are good, why shouldn’t they aim to drive greater good too?
It’s a question that the chocolate manufacturer has long been working on, to take the concept of breaks doing good to a new level.
Supporting cocoa farmers and their families
Chocolate is the most delicious ingredient in Nestlé's KitKat bars. That’s why Nestlé have been raising the bar on how they source cocoa, building further on the long-standing work of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
In 2009, Nestlé launched its Cocoa Plan, with a view to improving the lives and livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their families. Creating this plan also supported Nestlé's ambition to transform its global sourcing of cocoa and work to achieve full traceability and segregation for its cocoa products. Indeed, Nestlé will invest some €1.33 billion (CHF 1.3bn) by 2030. Developed in partnership with cocoa-growing families, the Nestlé Cocoa Plan has worked with nearly 180,000 cocoa-farming households to introduce more effective farming practices, improve sustainability and social conditions.
In Europe, 100 per cent of Nestlé's cocoa is sustainably sourced through the Nestlé Cocoa Plan and Rainforest Alliance certified mass balance cocoa. Building on the Nestlé Cocoa Plan, an innovative new income accelerator programme has been created to further address the challenges faced by cocoa-farming communities, with a clear focus on closing the living income gap of cocoa-farming families. At the same time, it strives to advance better agriculture practices and promote gender equality, empowering women as agents for positive change in their communities. The programme provides incentives for cocoa-farming families to enrol their children in school, implement good agricultural practices and engage in agroforestry activities.
One of the key elements of Nestlé's income accelerator programme is the positive impact on school enrolment rates among participating households, with the proportion of children attending school increasing by 10 per cent.
Just as KitKat has four fingers, the income accelerator programme contains four pillars which, once implemented, allow cocoa farming families to earn up to €500 in extra income annually for the first two years of engagement. Thereafter the sum is €250 every 12 months.
One of the key elements is to provide children aged six to 16 with schooling. This improves academic outcomes and can help reduce child labour risks.
The programme also promotes better farming techniques, including more effective pruning of trees to increase crop yields.
It also includes the planting of forest and fruit trees on cocoa farms. This provides much needed shade for tender cocoa plants, providing moisture-rich spaces for cocoa crops to survive during the dry season while supporting increased biodiversity.
The fourth pillar of the income accelerator programme is diversified income, empowering women to consider new on-farm businesses, such as beekeeping, to generate additional income.
Accelerating income
Because it is family focused, the income accelerator programme ensures that both women and men are supported as agents for positive change.
All the farming families involved in the programme can receive the same cash transfer amount regardless of farm size, so that even those with the smallest holdings can benefit. Payments are made via mobile phone, putting money directly into people’s hands.
This support is given in addition to that offered under Nestlé's Cocoa Plan and the premium the organisation already pays for certified Rainforest Alliance cocoa.
Nestlé's income accelerator programme has, so far, supported more than 10,000 families in the west-African country Côte d’Ivoire, and is currently expanding into neighbouring Ghana to include a total of 30,000 families. By 2030, the programme’s aim is to reach an estimated 160,000 cocoa-farming families across Nestlé's cocoa supply chain. This is impact at scale.
Independently assessed outcomes
The results are impressive.
Third parties, including KIT Institute, an independent third-party, are working with Nestlé on measuring impact. According to a report based on a study conducted over the first 18 months of the programme, in which a sample of 2,000 households spanning 28 co-operatives in Côte d’Ivoire were involved, participating farms contributed to a 32 per cent increase in cocoa yields. The total net income of income accelerator households rose by 38 per cent.
The same study found that thanks to the implementation of good agricultural practices because of the Nestlé programme, diseases and pests on farms have reduced.
The scheme has facilitated income diversification and positively influenced the empowerment of women as well as child schooling rates.
There has been a doubling in the number of households investing in small businesses, such as agro-processing, boutiques, barbershops and soap-making, up from 21 per cent in 2022 to 55 per cent in 2023.
The programme also promotes women’s financial inclusion by facilitating their participation in Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs.) These associations provide opportunities for savings and loans, with a particular focus on women looking to start or expand their own business. They offer various training on topics such as gender equality and entrepreneurship. The study highlights a 52 per cent increase in the number of women enrolled in these associations. The benefits of the programme are more than financial, and will, Nestlé believe, support the farming community and their children for years to come.
Helping cocoa growers to flourish
The success of the income accelerator programme is due to its holistic approach. “By putting the family at the centre of the programme, we empower women who are supporting their children’s education and are pursuing opportunities to diversify their household’s income,” Darrell High, global cocoa manager at Nestlé explains.
“The programme is transforming the way cocoa is farmed, by professionalising labour and ensuring trees are pruned. It is great to see that these professionally pruned farms deliver higher yields, which translates to higher income for cocoa-farming families.”
A key part of its success is because Nestlé works with a range of partners on the ground and gathers feedback from farming families, to continuously adapt and improve the programme.
The company is also collaborating with partners and suppliers to transform its global cocoa sourcing, to achieve full traceability as well as the physical segregation of the cocoa sourced from its income accelerator programme.
That allows Nestlé to track the entire journey of cocoa beans from farm to factory, while keeping them physically separated from other cocoa sources. In effect, it adheres to the highest traceability standards.
The initial KitKat bars made using cocoa from the income accelerator programme were launched in Europe earlier this year with the first of these bars being shipped to Ireland in May.
So, look out for KitKat Breaks for Good branded bars featuring a QR code for additional information and discover the good behind your break.
By choosing a KitKat bar it means that while you press the pause button on your day – you’re supporting good. How? Because KitKat is pressing play on positively impacting cocoa-farming families.
You can read more on the progress of Nestlé's income accelerator programme here. Learn more about the great work that KitKat Breaks For Good is promoting within cocoa farming communities at kitkat.co.uk