The World Bank has recently set up the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multi-donor trust fund to improve food security and incomes in low-income countries through assistance to agriculture. This multi-lateral financing mechanism includes both a public- and private-sector financing window to provide grants, loans and equity investments aimed at raising agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets, reducing risk and vulnerability, improving non-farm rural livelihoods, and providing technical assistance and capacity development. The fund’s founding donors, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Spain, the United States of America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged initial contributions totalling $880 million.

Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, visited the Nestlé R&D Centre in Abidjan last week for an insight on Nestlé’s commitment to sustainability in cocoa. Accompanied by Klaus Zimmermann, Senior Vice President R&D, and Serigne Diop, Head of R&D Centre, Abidjan, Mr Zoellick observed the activities of cocoa nurseries and took part in a discussion with farmers at the Centre. Mr Zoellick was impressed that a global company like Nestlé was working with local producers to help make products of a global standard. He added that it was encouraging to see local jobs created and emphasised the importance of connecting global and local. The Centre, which was inaugurated nine months ago, focuses on improving the quality of locally-sourced raw materials, including cocoa, coffee and cassava. In addressing the problem of disease and ageing plantations affecting the West African cocoa harvest, Nestlé has transferred its propagation technology to the site in Abidjan from its R&D Centre in Tours, France. The plant science activities are part of the CHF 110 million group-wide initiative The Cocoa Plan, which was launched last October. The plan is an important and significant part of broad, collaborative efforts to improve the cocoa supply chain and the lives of cocoa farmers and communities. This includes improving the quantity and quality of yields by providing 12 million stronger productive plantlets to farmers over the next ten years and teaching farmers more efficient farming methods.