Mars says more than half of its cocoa is traceable to farmer groups as of the end of 2020.

The company recently provided progress on its cocoa sustainability efforts under its Cocoa for Generations strategy and Responsible Cocoa program, which sets out for suppliers Mars’ requirements for the cocoa it sources. Mars says it has been accelerating its efforts to source cocoa from farms that have measures in place aimed at protecting children, preserving forests and improving farmer income.

Mars aims to achieve a deforestation-free supply chain for 100 percent of the cocoa it sources by 2025.

Since 2019, Mars has been reporting how much of its cocoa is traceable to a country of origin, to a farmer group within that country, and to the individual farms supplying that farmer group.

Based on data provided by our cocoa suppliers, well over a third of our cocoa was traceable to farm level and more than 166,000 total farm boundaries in Mars’ cocoa supply chain were polygon mapped by the end of 2020.

And through its partnerships Mars trained and sensitized nearly 115,000 farmers on forest protection — an increase of 154 percent compared to 2019 — and distributed 1.2 million non-cocoa trees to increase shade and biodiversity, more than double the amount compared to 2019.  

These interventions are helping farmers grow more cocoa on existing farmland without encroaching on forests — and helping Mars ensure it knows from where the cocoa it sources comes.