Modifying the cocoa farming process
Director of Sustainability at Luker Chocolate Julia Ocampo examines how chocolate cultivation may benefit the environment.
Farmers constantly seek to strike a balance between productivity, yields, pricing, and cost of living while also considering the carbon footprint of their operations. At Luker Chocolate, we collaborate with farmers to implement best practices that support the health of farms and biodiversity while also having a positive effect on carbon emissions.
Transformation of strategy: reusing wasteland
As per the IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land, land use change, mainly deforestation in developing countries to make way for food production, accounts for 14.5 percent of land use change emissions and up to 8.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to agriculture.
Cocoa planting is considerably better for generating revenue, creating jobs, and absorbing carbon emissions both environmentally and economically. By removing carbon from the environment, farms can improve water systems, restore green spaces, and bring back animals. All of these benefits contribute to a reduction in carbon production.
Selecting large, old cattle fields for cocoa agroforestry crop farms improves the crop’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide by design and halts the industry’s destruction.
Luker signed the Cocoa, Forest and Peace program, which aims to restore over 1,400,000 hectares across Colombia, earlier than any other private enterprise. The program is essential to stopping the land’s deterioration and helps rural communities develop in a way that is generally sustainable.
Since more than 80% of Colombia’s regions cultivate cocoa, this is the ideal chance to improve the land and support the industry’s growth on both an ecological and financial level.
Circling around – going beyond off-setting
Some factories use technology to track their carbon emissions and look for ways to offset them, including planting trees or purchasing bonuses from other businesses.
I believe that the industry will shift its perspective in the next years to emphasize circular carbon initiatives. This occurs when emissions from industries and manufacturing are naturally balanced by crops, making the business carbon positive and preserving the environment by growing forestry trees, stopping deforestation, and fostering biodiversity.
We consider this to be a truly circular sustainability plan that can save expenses associated with offsetting elsewhere, is purpose-driven, and is fully verifiable. By the end of 2021, Luker will have completed full carbon compensation on our chocolate plant.
In harmony with agroforestry
In agriculture, it is crucial to preserve the natural eco-systems. Agroforestry systems are an excellent approach to strengthen forests while preserving a good yield and enhancing the sustainability of the farm as a whole.
In agriculture, it is crucial to preserve the natural eco-systems. Agroforestry systems are an excellent approach to strengthen forests while preserving a good yield and enhancing the sustainability of the farm as a whole.
Since it stops deforestation and gives small cocoa growers additional revenue, it’s a win-win situation for reducing carbon emissions. This is so that farmers who track the amount of carbon that agroforestry systems capture can profit from the extra crops blended in with cocoa and have a certified bonus to offer to the market.
We cannot safeguard our crops if we do not also protect our world. Achieving our carbon zero targets will depend on how important it is to change the way we farm. Even if we still have a ways to go until this is a regular practice, we can constantly work to improve our sustainability and climate-positiveness.