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Launched in 2012, Cocoa Life is investing $400 million USD by 2022 to empower at least 200,000 cocoa farmers and reach one million community members.

This effort builds on the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, which was founded in Ghana in 2008. It's all part of our commitment to ensure a sustainable future for chocolate.

Cocoa Life helps communities thrive in six key cocoa-growing origins―Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia, India, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

We are helping them gain knowledge and skills to improve their livelihoods, strengthen their communities and inspire the next generation of cocoa farmers.

In June 1938 the Gold Coast Department of Agriculture established the Central Cocoa Research Station at Tafo to investigate problems of diseases and pests which had considerably reduced cocoa production in the Eastern Province.

In 1944 it became the West African Cocoa Research Institute (WACRI) with a sub-station in Ibadan, Nigeria, and some research activities undertaken in Sierra Leone.

After the attainment of independence by Ghana and Nigeria, WACRI was dissolved, and the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) were formed in its place.

CRIG was administered by the National Research Council, which was later superseded by the Ghana Academy of Sciences and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The objectives of the Institute were subsequently expanded to include research on other indigenous and introduced tree crops that produced fats similar to cocoa butter.

CRIG won the privilege of being the research wing of the National Cashew Development Project in 2002, and cashew has since become a mandate crop of CRIG.

The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) also conducts research into the development of by-products of cocoa and the other mandate crops with the aim of diversifying utilization and generating additional income for farmers.

CRIG initiated research into cocoa by-products in mid-1965, by setting up a committee of experts, with representatives from the University of Ghana, to identify by-products that could be produced from cocoa.

From the recommendations of the committee, research into cocoa by-products took off in 1970, spearheaded by Dr. D. Adomako, a biochemist. Cocoa by-products research received a further boost in 1992 with the setting up of the New Products Development Unit of CRIG.

The Unit received financial support, through the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO)/the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)/Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) project in 1993. Furthermore, the Ghana Cocoa Board in 1993 transferred to CRIG three large cocoa plantations to supplement cocoa production on CRIG's experimental farms at Tafo, Afosu and Bunso, and to aid by-products research.

Following the success of the cocoa by-products programme, attention was directed to develop similar by-products from the other mandate crops in 2004.

ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd is a leading global commodity merchant and sustainable supply chain management company.

As an origin-integrated business operating in 35 major producing countries worldwide, ECOM focuses primarily on coffee, cotton, and cocoa, as well as participating in selected other agricultural product markets.

ECOM is one of the top two merchants in coffee, the largest coffee miller, amongst the top four merchants in cocoa, and the Top 5 International Cotton Merchants, making ECOM a top tier participant in each of its core businesses.

With over 171 years of market experience, ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. is committed to sustainable and socially responsible leadership within the soft commodities industry.

ECOM’s global operations rely on extensive knowledge and experience in supply chain traceability, risk management and client focused distribution to create a valuable and sustainable supply chain, starting from the local farmers and their communities through to the world’s leading finished-product manufacturers.

The Ghana Cocoa Board was established by ordinance in 1947 with the sum of ¢ 27 million (being Ghana's share of the net profit of the West African Produce Control Board) as its initial working capital. The Board traces its beginning further back to the cocoa hold-up of 1937.

The Board first rented and occupied the old premises of the Export Produce Control Board on 28th February Road, Accra, and when Swan Mill, which was built by the United Africa Company Limited was completed, it rented part of it at an annual cost of approximately ¢ 4,500.00 after which it acquired its own building.

In 1957, the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah the then President of the Republic of Ghana, laid the foundation stone to mark the construction of Cocoa House at 41 Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, Accra to provide offices for the Board. The building of Cocoa House was not only meant to avoid payment of rent but also to represent a concrete expression of the Board's faith in the future of the cocoa industry and a living monument to the hard work of the Ghanaian farmer. The six-storey Cocoa House, which was built at a cost of nearly ¢2 million, was commissioned in November 1960 by the late President. Cocoa House also provided offices for such foreign and local organisations such as Ethiopian Airlines and ARB Apex Bank.