[June 03, 2013] The Hershey Company Expands Mobile Training to Farmers in Cote d'Ivoire Tweet Jun 03, 2013 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- The Hershey Company announced that its mobile phone program, CocoaLink, is expanding to Cote d'Ivoire, which is a producer of cocoa. According to a release, CocoaLink helps farmers grow quantities and higher quality of cocoa through farm training provided by low-cost SMS messages and exchanges via mobile phones. Hershey joined with the Conseil Cafe-Cacao of Ivory Coast and nine other companies in creating CocoaLink Cote d'Ivoire, which is expected to enroll 100,000 cocoa farmers by 2016. Hershey said it launched CocoaLink in Ghana with the Ghana Cocoa Board and the World Cocoa Foundation. Through CocoaLink, more than 350,000 SMS messages have been provided at no cost to 18,000 cocoa farmers in more than 500 communities. More than 35 percent of CocoaLink users are women. "Modernizing cocoa farms means creating better lives for growers, their families and communities," said Terry O'Day, Hershey's Senior Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer. "CocoaLink messages are designed based on farmer surveys and are kept relevant through continual feedback with this interactive platform. "We are delighted to be working together with so many other companies and leading development agencies to expand CocoaLink into Cote d'Ivoire. Mobile phones are a proven tool in reducing rural poverty and isolation while increasing community education. Through CocoaLink and other technology-based programs, Hershey and our partners will be adding digital literacy training in the cocoa communities of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire where the need is greatest. Because women have such a personal impact on the well-being of their families and communities, our focus and digital outreach will be customized to their particular interests and circumstances." CocoaLink said it supports safe farming practices based on national child labor laws as well as health and education information to help cocoa communities develop. Since more than 70 percent of the 1.5 million cocoa farmers in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire are using mobile phones, Hershey said it plans to leverage CocoaLink to provide both farming and community information through initiatives that include: -Adding digital literacy training to the WCF ECHOES youth education program in West Africa. -Providing training videos that women farmers can access through free computer centers provided in the company's Learn to Grow program in Ghana. -Expanding the company's distance learning program that creates a virtual classroom in Assin Fosu Ghana for students to learn together with their counterparts at the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania. -Applying insights from Hershey's cocoa mapping GPS project so that farmers and families understand the size and geography of their cocoa farms so they can manage the farms more productively and profitably. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]