Stakeholders of the future should have a place at the table today
Community, Inclusivity, Respect: these practices are central to ICAM’s understanding of “stakeholder,” a label too often tied primarily to capital exchange. Instead, ICAM takes a dynamic and proactive approach to stakeholders, emphasizing relationships and shared values—both commercial and ethical. In the same way that we strive to have direct knowledge of the entire supply chain for our ingredients, we also work to strengthen connections with—and between—a wide spectrum of stakeholders. The image below provides an overview of the many categories of people who help shape our business activities, including critical goals of sustainability, fair trade, and respect for people and the environment.??
This past year, ICAM updated and expanded its stakeholder family according to the more inclusive criteria created by GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), an “independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing them with the global common language to communicate those impacts.”Headquartered in Amsterdam, the GRI has a network of seven regional offices which support organizations and stakeholders worldwide. In 2021, GRI added future generations to its definition of stakeholders as individuals or groups. According to the GRI 1: Foundation 2021 Standards, even individuals who may not be aware or are not yet impacted should be considered stakeholders.?
Assuming clear-eyed and active responsibility for these future stakeholders makes good business and ethical sense, and is crucial to ICAM’s long-range sustainability aims. The cocoa world is facing severe challenges in terms of sustainability in a fundamental sense: plantations are aging, declining in productivity, and for this reason are not available for future farmers and the communities that depend on them, not to mention the vast world of chocolate lovers.??
Among the many ways we are helping to ensure the sustainable future of cocoa is our work to reinvigorate the precious natural resources of these cocoa plantations. As part of the Rainforest Alliance certification program, initiated by ICAM in February 2022 and implemented by the Sucden- Olakoko Farmer Group, 715 farmers in the Nigerian states of Osun and Ondo have received extensive training to improve their agricultural practices on the plantations.?
Farmer Adeyemo Simiatu took part in the project and learned how to manage chemical inputs, reducing their purchase and, consequently, her costs. She was immediately able to put into practice what she learned on her 1.8-hectare plantation, with an instant impact on productivity and consequent profitability.?
As Adeyemo says, “Thanks to the increased productivity, my income has increased too. Beforehand, my yield was about 500 kg per year; after joining the project and doing my best to implement what I’ve learned, the yield has increased to about 580 kg. I am confident that it will continue to increase.” The program also encourages farmers to carry out activities generating additional income that is distributed throughout the year. Adeyemo explains: “I have been able to activate other sources of income, such as milling axava and palm. This has helped me to obtain additional income, especially during the low cocoa season.” With the help of such training, Adeyemo is better able to support her three children. And it is a gift that will continue:? as her plantation becomes a sustainable source of income, she envisages passing it down to these same children—a legacy for the family, community, and world.??