By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Accra, Nov. 13, GNA – The Rainforest Alliance has held its annual sustainability workshop for partners, managers and farmers to update them on developments in the global sustainability landscape and changes to its standards.
Mr Nicholas Jengre, Country Director, Rainforest Alliance, said the organisation had been ready for the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for the past two years and had incorporated its requirements into its sustainability platform.
He said the rapidly evolving sustainability landscape required regular reviews of the organisation’s standards to reflect emerging global developments and maintain partners’ confidence, adding that the workshop was to brief partners on the changes and reaffirm the Alliance’s commitment to maintaining credible and trusted sustainability standards.
Mr Jengre explained that the EUDR was a mandatory regulation and that the Alliance’s standards had incorporated its key requirements to help partners comply with the new regulatory framework.
He also highlighted the European Union’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, which seeks to protect consumers against vague, unsubstantiated and misleading environmental claims in commercial communications and product marketing.
On cocoa production, he said about 80 per cent of cocoa farmers were below the living income threshold, noting that average yields needed to increase from 476 kilogrammes per hectare to 652 kilogrammes to enable farmers to adequately support a family of five.
He said the Alliance and its partners had not only supported farmers to adopt sustainable practices, including pruning, harvesting, weeding and proper drying of cocoa beans, to improve productivity and incomes but in September 2025, introduced its Regenerative Agriculture Standard following years of research, field testing and collaboration.
The standard provides a specialised pathway for farmers and companies to adopt regenerative practices aimed at restoring soil, increasing biodiversity and improving climate resilience.
Globally, more than 10.8 million farmers and workers are on Rainforest Alliance-certified farms, while 11.9 million hectares of ecosystems have been protected or restored across 64 countries.
The Alliance also has more than 1,300 cocoa certificate holders worldwide, including 182 in Ghana. Global certified cocoa production reached 2.7 million metric tonnes in 2025, with Ghana accounting for more than 11.81 per cent.
Mr Prosper Ayimiah Hyacinth, Standards and Assurance Manager of ETGI Beyond Beans Ghana, said the implementation of the Rainforest Alliance standards had recorded measurable year-on-year progress, although some challenges remained.
He said there was the need to strengthen capacity building and sensitise farmers to emerging trends in the global agricultural industry to ensure effective implementation of the standards.
Mr Ayimiah Hyacinth said farmers must recognise that their produce served international markets and, therefore, comply with applicable global regulations while building partnerships with stakeholders to promote sustainable practices.
He said his organisation was managing close to 9,000 farmers across 20 districts in Ghana, supported by more than 100 field staff who mapped farms, distributed trees and assisted farmers in implementing sustainability interventions.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei
Patrick Ofoe Nudzi