Sustainability begins at the source – insights from Ghana and São Tomé

Ghana – Encounters, trust and shared growth

We have had ties with Ghana for many years. We travel there every year to meet our partners and the farming families in person. Since 2012, we have been working with Yayra Glover, who is considered a pioneer in Ghana for high-quality, organic and Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa.

Our visit began at Isaac Djabetey's farm in Achiansah – the first farm we visited together with Yayra's team. Over the following days, we visited farms in Ateibu and the health centre in Nankese. Together with our partner Elucid, we were able to see how positively the ‘Akwaaba’ health project has developed. It was touching to hear directly from the people how much access to medical care helps them in their everyday lives – a prerequisite for families to be able to run their farms and tend to their cacao trees.

During our stay, the harvest was already underway. As is customary in Ghana, the beans are fermented directly in the fields or in the forest by the individual farmers in banana leaves. After about five to seven days, they are taken to the villages, where they are dried on bamboo tables for seven to ten days. The scent of fermenting beans was everywhere in the air.

The exchanges with the farmers focused on trust, mutual understanding and support. These encounters are much more than just visits – they are a living partnership and an expression of deep appreciation.

It is only thanks to the tremendous commitment of the entire Yayra Glover team that the high quality and availability of the cocoa can be ensured in the long term. The health project makes an important contribution to this by strengthening families and thus laying the foundation for sustainable cocoa cultivation.


São Tomé – Cocoa in the heart of a world biosphere reserve

After Ghana, our journey took us to the island of São Tomé, which has been designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve since September 2025. The small island nation, barely larger than 1,000 km² and thus around forty times smaller than Switzerland, is almost completely covered in lush greenery – a paradise for cocoa cultivation.

We have been partners with Satocao for over ten years. Here, cocoa production works a little differently than in Ghana: the freshly opened cacao pods are cracked open in the morning, collected and quickly taken to collection points. Satocao takes the fresh cacao and transports it to processing centres. There it is fermented, dried, inspected and finally prepared for export.

A particularly memorable moment of our trip was our visit to the Agua Izé kindergarten, where we celebrated the completion of a small but significant project together with Satocao. The kindergarten grows its own vegetables, which are used for the children's meals. However, as vegetables were repeatedly being stolen at night, we worked with Satocao to finance the fencing of the garden. Now we can be sure that the children receive enough fresh food – a small measure with a big impact.

The children's zest for life, their songs, their pride in their own garden – all of this touched us deeply and reminded us why we support such projects: because sustainability does not begin with cocoa, but also with the people who grow it.


Conclusion – partnership with heart and responsibility

Our journey showed us once again how central trust, presence and partnership are. Whether in Ghana or São Tomé: only together with our partners, the farmers and their families, can we ensure the quality and availability of our cocoa beans in the long term.

At the same time, it is about much more than cocoa – it is about appreciation, mutual support and development. Continuous exchange and joint projects lead to improvements that strengthen local living conditions and guarantee our customers a product with a genuine, sustainable origin.