Nestlé and KitKat support farmers to send their children to school and promote sustainable cocoa production

Nestlé pays up to CHF 500 annually as an incentive to cocoa farmers if they send their children to school, a unique initiative by a global food company to increase education in the sustainable cocoa supply chain.

Nestlé announces the availability of the first series of KitKat® bars containing cocoa mass from beans grown by the farming families involved in the Income Accelerator. This innovative program was launched in January 2022 to help close the income gap of cocoa farming families and reduce the risk of child labour exploitation. At the same time, it strives to promote better agricultural practices and promote gender equality, empowering women as agents of positive change. The program incentivizes cocoa farming families who enrol their children in school, implement good agricultural practices, engage in agroforestry activities, and diversify their incomes.

Through KitKat’s ‘Breaks for Good’ initiative, all break consumers take supports cocoa farmers and raises awareness of the sustainability of the cocoa used in these bars. In Romania, over 15,000,000 KitKat bars were consumed last year, creating a connection between Romanian consumers and the farmers in the Nestlé program.

The Nestlé Income Acceleration Program has so far supported more than 10,000 families in Côte d’Ivoire and is expanding to Ghana this year to include a total of 30,000 families. By 2030, the program aims to reach around 160,000 cocoa farming families in Nestlé’s global cocoa supply chain to create impact at scale.

Nestlé has worked with various partners and suppliers to transform its global cocoa supply and achieve full traceability of cocoa crops obtained from its Income Accelerator program from farm to factory, while keeping them physically separate from other cocoa sources. Additionally, by mid-2024, Nestlé plans to use certified cocoa butter for all KitKat production in Europe, with plans to expand to other regions in the coming years.

“KitKat has consistently embraced innovation, centred around its iconic ‘Have a break, Have a KitKat’. Today, this innovation is brought to life through the ‘Breaks for Good’ initiative that puts cocoa farmers at the centre of our product through our income accelerator program. We couldn’t think of a better brand than KitKat to represent our efforts to create meaningful impact in cocoa communities,” commented Corinne Gabler, Head of Confectionery and Ice Cream at Nestlé.