The World Cocoa Foundation has announced a $4 million initiative designed to benefit thirty-five thousand cocoa farmers in three West African countries.

Announced last week at the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, which took place alongside the 2012 G8 Summit in Washington, D.C., the initiative includes a matching grant program and a growth fund that will support business training and the dissemination of improved farming techniques among small-scale family farmers in Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The programs are part of WCF's ongoing $40 million Cocoa Livelihoods program, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and sixteen WCF members.

Funding for the initiative, which aims to double farm household incomes in the three countries, was matched by the Gates Foundation, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, and WCF member company partners Kraft Foods, Mars Inc., Cargill, ADM Cocoa, Barry Callebaut, Armajaro Trading Ltd., ECOM Cocoa, and Olam International Ltd. As a complement to the program, the Hershey Company has developed a text-messaging service to help provide cocoa farmers in the field with critical information on fertilizer application, plant husbandry, harvesting techniques, and other farming practices, as well as topics such as HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention.

"WCF and our member companies continue to invest in sub-Saharan Africa and work together with national governments and partners to show our long-term commitment to cocoa farmers in the region," said WCF president Bill Guyton. "Cocoa farmers already have mastered concepts essential for producing crops and bring a product to market. Cocoa trees are well suited for combining with food crops. Cocoa farmers are uniquely positioned to form a cornerstone of many countries' food security strategies."