Barry Callebaut has purchased the remaining 51% stake in Tanzanian-based Biolands Group, its long-time supplier of certified cocoa beans from East and West Africa.
With this development, 143 full-time employees at Biolands have joined the Barry Callebaut Group.
The company has been procuring Biolands' cocoa since 2000. It acquired a 49% stake in Biolands International in 2008.
The similar trend was followed in Sierra Leone and Cte d'Ivoire through the establishment of Bio-United and Biopartenaire.
Barry Callebaut stated that the Biolands acquisition fits well with its corporate strategy to become a leader in sustainable cocoa as well as gain access to individual farmers in addition to cooperatives.
Barry Callebaut Sustainable Cocoa vice president Daudi Lelijveld said, "The complete takeover of Biolands brings Barry Callebaut even closer to thousands of farmers committed to sustainable cocoa production.
"Biolands has championed quality cocoa, transparent pricing and fair business practices since it first started working with cocoa farmers in Tanzania more than 13 years ago.
"We look forward to accelerating our work together with farmers to identify pragmatic and scalable solutions to address the gaps in knowledge, materials and financing which today limit the ability of farmers throughout Africa to realize productivity gains and improve livelihoods."
In March 2012, the company launched 'Cocoa Horizons', a CHF40m cocoa sustainability initiative to boost farm productivity, quality and improve livelihoods in cocoa producing countries in Africa and Asia over the next ten years.
