Dive Summary:

• Hershey's CocoaLink program is under attack by a group of NGO's claiming it is ineffective and insignificant -totaling only 17% of Mars' investment in African cocoa farming.
• The program sends text messages to farmers in Ghana, and soon in Cote d'Ivoire, with tips on sustainability and general agricultural practices.
• The company says it has reached more than 10,000 Ghanaians with the program, however the World Cocoa Foundation puts that number closer to 4,000 and has doubts about the programs effectiveness.

From the article:

“Once a government was in place in Cote d’ Ivoire, we went to work reaching out to the new government to
expand CocoaLink and we are rolling it out there this year. “

“Criticizing CocoaLink for not reaching farmers in Cote d’ Ivoire given the realities on the ground at the time the program was created is disingenuous,“ he said.