Côte d'Ivoire, the world’s largest grower of cocoa, is a vital link in ADM’s supply of cocoa for raw and processed beans in the form of cakes, liquor and butter to customers worldwide. In 2001, ADM bought the cocoa operations of Sifca, then the country’s main exporter and processor of cocoa.
Today, ADM operates the UNICAO processing facility in Abidjan and three conditioning and storage plants in Abidjan and San Pedro, where beans are cleaned, checked for quality and prepared for export to ADM’s cocoa processing facilities around the world.
ADM ships cocoa products under the UNICAO® brand from Côte d'Ivoire to Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. Cocoa beans from Côte d'Ivoire help create products for the ADM brands Ambrosia®, De Zaan® and Merckens®.
Our UNICAO products also go to manufacturers of confectionery and bakery goods, cereals, and dairy and dry-mix products.
ADM works with farmers, grower cooperatives, government and non-governmental organizations, academia and industry partners to improve the lives of cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire, in particular through the Sustainable Tree Crop Program. Another example is ADM’s Socially & Environmentally Responsible Agriculture Practices (SERAP) Program, launched in 2005, which rewards Ivorian cooperatives for adopting sustainable farming practices.
By giving the cooperatives incentives—half of which go directly to individual farmers—SERAP aims to improve collaboration among cocoa growers as they focus on product quality, HIV/AIDS prevention, safe use of pesticides and fertilizers, and forest protection. The number of participants has grown to more than 12,000.
