Ghana

Established in 1994, today ofi in Ghana is one of the leading ingredients companies in the country.  We export cocoa and cashew, which is grown by more than 300,000 farmers. We thank our success to our dedicated team and the strong relationships with our farmers, distributors and partners we have built over the last more than 25 years.

Cashews

ofi’s Cashew business is one of the first businesses for Olam in Ghana and presently we are a leading exporter of raw cashew nuts from Ghana. We are happy that over the years we have been part of the success story of Ghana’s cashew industry growth and contributed to it responsibly as a market leader.

 

Over the years, we have invested in capacity building for Cashew farming communities to help them overcome challenges such as low yield, poor quality and access to market.  We offer year-round support to our farmers and have built strong relationships. We collect produce from farmers and aggregate inventory at ofi - warehouses, which also receive goods from our buying agents. Each location is equipped with drying and packing facilities allowing us to maintain the quality of the product and prepare it quickly for export to customers outside of Ghana. 

 

Beyond the harvest season, we train farmers in Good Agricultural Practice to help them farm sustainably, increase their economic prosperity and create healthy ecosystems. We identify training needs at a community level and deliver tailored programmes. 

 

It is refreshing to know that apart from supporting the growth of the Ghana cashew crop through the annual distribution of free cashew grafts to the farmers with whom we are directly connected to, we also promote alternative livelihood income support programs in cashew orchards. Our flagship program in bee keeping has seen over 400 women trained so far and set up in honey production: an additional household income from cashew orchards tailored towards women.

 

We also provide knowledge support and related training programs to adhere to the stipulated framework for Organic Cashew.

 

Overall, Cashew team has believed in working with the farming community beyond the routine transactional relation and extend into activities which could lead to the welfare of the cashew farmers.

Cocoa

From sourcing cocoa beans at the farmgate and establishing a Licensed Buying Company in 1999, to working with farming communities across the country and operating a state-of-the-art factory, we provide Ghanaian cocoa products to customers worldwide. 

 

Traceability and sustainability are at the core of our operations. We source beans from smallholder farmers across Ghana and provide year-round support to help them achieve the best income for their crop. The cocoa business has maintained leadership position as the number I license Buying Company (LBC) in the country with presence across the entire cocoa landscape.

 

Our support ranges from micro financing, to training on Good Agricultural Practices and Climate-smart agriculture, to supplying hybrid cocoa and shade tree seedlings. 

 

Olam is a founding member of the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI). We are currently working in several landscapes in Ghana partnering with Government, NGOs, and other state Institutions to develop cocoa landscapes by supporting farmers improve productivity and livelihoods using LMB approach.

A leader in cocoa ingredient processing 

Since we began our cocoa operations in Ghana, production has grown from approximately 450,000 metric tonnes a day, to around one million. Our portfolio accounts for 25% of all cocoa beans traded in Ghana. 

 

Established in 2009 and located in the Kaase Industrial Area, Kumasi, our state-of-the-art bean processing factory is accredited by the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority with one of the highest quality standards in the industry. We have 300 employees and create indirect employment for another 1,000 individuals in the wider community.

Through our Kumasi operations, we uphold a range of certifications to ensure we meet market demands and offer our customers choice and assurance. Our factory is SMETA certified for responsible social practices, FSSC 22000 certified for food safety, UTZ and Fairtrade certified for sustainable liquor production and we offer Halal and Kosher products. Under our Unicao brand, the factory produces a variety of liquors ranging from mild roast to full-bodied roasted nibs and enables us to offer cocoa products from single-source origin for multiple cocoa applications. It offers cocoa mass in 15 kg cartons, 25 kg cartons and 25kg ingots.

 

Unicao cocoa products are sourced from several origins. Read more about the history of this, and other cocoa brands in our cocoa portfolio.

Discover our Products & Ingredients

Read ofi news

Press Release Mar 7, 2024
ofi’s net-zero ambition recognized at UK’s largest sustainable business awards

A new carbon monitoring tool developed by leading food ingredients supplier ofi and Google geo-spatial partner NGIS, has been recognized in the “Net-Zero Innovation of the Year” category at this year’s Edie awards, which celebrate sustainability leadership.

 

The tool is designed to measure carbon gains and losses across supply chains. It uses satellite imagery and machine learning to track changes in forest cover and carbon stocks at a granular level - down to the individual farm1. This data is helping ofi to identify areas at risk of deforestation and prioritize conservation efforts on cashew, cocoa and coffee suppliers’ farms and in sourcing landscapes.

 

Climate Action Manager at ofi, Dr Pedro Lafargue said: “We are delighted to be recognized for our innovative solution that is helping us monitor and measure GHG emissions and progress towards net-zero goals. Part of this is about driving transformational change in strategic landscapes which means keeping growing and retaining more trees on and around farms.

 

“Planting more trees is one of the ways to move towards net-zero, but carbon sequestration potential is highly dependent on tree species and farm typology. The tool allows us to assess the optimum level of planting for different farmers and farms so we can create more efficient agroforestry programs that maximize both yields and carbon storage.”

 

ofi’s customers, who are some of the world’s largest food retailers and manufacturers, can access results of the data-driven sequestration efforts in their joint supply chains via performance metrics on ofi’s sustainability management system AtSource. These insights can help them monitor and reduce their climate risk and meet science-based targets, as well as prepare for compliance with new EU rules and disclosures in relation to nature and climate risks.

 

The move by ofi to take carbon stock monitoring from a manual, desktop-based process to an integrated pipeline which leverages cloud computing, is allowing ofi to progressively scale this analysis across multiple commodities and regions – covering over 950,000 farms so far.

 

But Lafargue says that there’s a role for industry partners to play to scale up the innovation and progress towards net-zero at scale: “While the tool can help our customers quantify the ecosystem services provided to supply their ingredients and invest efficiently in better farming systems, we need them to recognize the efforts made by farmers to plant trees and maintain agroforestry systems with financial incentives, like annual premiums, to scale up these efforts over the long-term.”

 

Looking ahead, there is potential to take the tool beyond ofi supply chains to quantify carbon stocks and removals across entire production landscapes to provide better data for the industry on land use change and carbon removals. 

 

ofi was also a finalist in the Circular Economy of the Year award for using residual cocoa shells to fuel its cocoa factories2, where it produces its premium cocoa ingredients deZaan. The circular biomass boilers will reduce natural gas usage and CO2 emissions at ofi’s Koog aan deZaan facility in the Netherlands by 50% and in Mannheim, Germany, where it is believed to be the first cocoa shell boiler of its kind in the country, it will save approximately 8,000 tons of CO2 annually.

 

Discover much more about what ofi has to offer at ofi.com

 

Notes to Editors

 

1 The Carbon Sequestration Monitoring Tool combines data from ofi polygon-mapped farms and satellite data with machine learning techniques to build models in Google Earth Engine that calculate the total aboveground biomass (AGB) - vegetation above the soil, such as stumps, trees, and foliage and how much carbon is present in each plot.

 

2 https://www.ofi.com/news-and-events/press-release/olam-food-ingredients-turns-cocoa-shells-into-power-to-fuel-factory.html

Events Mar 6, 2024
Join ofi at Expo West 2024, March 14-16

Come connect with ofi at our booth at Natural Products Expo West 2024, the leading trade show in the natural, organic, and healthy products industry.  Stop by to discover our portfolio of nutritious and delicious ingredients and learn more about how we drive sustainability impact through collaboration and work directly with customers to create new recipes and better products.

 

This year our theme is Flavor Fusion where you can see if you are sweet or spicy as you explore our ingredients through creating your own trail mix. We’ll be featuring a variety of ofi ingredients from our spices, nuts, and cocoa portfolios along with highlighting some of our capabilities.

 

Visit us from March 14-16, at Booth #3887, Hall D at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.

Articles Feb 14, 2024
The sweet treats and trends winning hearts this Valentine’s Day

Author | Madeline Bills | Cocoa Innovation Manager at ofi

 

Chocolate has long been synonymous with Valentine’s Day, with sweet treats a classic way to celebrate the season of love.

But Valentine’s Day is evolving, with Gen Z and Millennials redefining traditions.  Many consumers are choosing to celebrate this day with friends and family members, as well as significant others. In 2023, 40% of Gen Z and 20% of Millennials said they were planning to buy their friends a Valentine’s gift.[1] And what better way to do so than with cocoa?

 

As consumers change the way they celebrate Valentine’s Day – and who they celebrate with – there is an opportunity for manufacturers to develop new products.  From introducing more exotic flavors in confectionery to creating more experiential formats and expanding into new categories, we’re seeing companies inventing new ways for consumers to celebrate the season of love with those who matter most to them. At ofi we explore the top chocolate, confectionery and bakery trends shaping Valentine’s Day 2024 and how manufacturers can develop new offerings to win the hearts of consumers.

 

[1] Actually, Lots of Gen Z Would Rather Spend Valentine’s Day with Their Friends - YPulse

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