Cargill Donates 100,000 Educational Books to Schools in Ghana

TEMA, Ghana, April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business in Ghana is supporting a project with Books for Africa to deliver over 100,000 educational books to schools in Ghana.  

Cargill's $77,250 (USD) donation will help promote literacy in the region and provide 27 local primary and secondary schools with much needed educational resources. The books – which have been collected, sorted, shipped and distributed through the organization Books for Africa – are predominantly textbooks and have been chosen specifically to support the local schools' curriculums.

Cargill has also sponsored a new Law and Democracy library at the University of Ghana and as part of this project the university's legal faculty will receive approximately 9,500 legal texts.

"We are extremely pleased to be supporting such a worthwhile project, providing key educational resources to schools in our local cocoa communities," explained Kojo Amoo-Gottfried, Managing Director for Cargill Ghana.  "Most of the students at these local schools have only had limited access to textbooks before and so by partnering with Books for Africa we can take a few steps towards addressing this." 

Pat Plonski, Executive Director, Books for Africa, commented: "At Books for Africa, we believe that education is the great equalizer in the world, and books are at the foundation of a strong educational system. For many children in Africa, the gift of books truly is a gift of hope. Thank you to Cargill; it is company efforts such as this that enable us to continue our mission."

The books will be distributed among the local schools in the Tema region with the help of employee volunteers from Cargill over the coming weeks. 

Amoo-Gottfried continued: "Our employees will have the opportunity to work with a local organization to help distribute the books to some of the schools, which will be a very humbling experience."

Cargill has been operating in Ghana since 2008, when the company opened a state-of-the-art cocoa processing facility which employs over 200 people directly and many more indirectly. The company had been sourcing cocoa from Ghana for many years prior to establishing its operations and it has been involved in a number of projects to support local communities.

As part of the Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program in 2010, Cargill announced a three-year $5 million (USD) commitment to support sustainable cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. This includes a partnership with CARE to sponsor a program of activities that will help improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and their families across 110 communities in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Central regions of Ghana. In 2011, the company held a football week in Tema – in partnership with the Chelsea Foundation – to promote healthy lifestyles choices for children in the local Tema communities. In February 2012, the company launched an extensive four year commitment to farmer training in Ghana. 

This educational initiative is just one of the projects that Cargill globally supports to improve access to primary and secondary education for underprivileged children in Cargill communities.  Since 2008, the company worldwide has contributed more than $50 million (USD) to support schools and educational programs for people living in communities where we have a business presence. 

Notes for editors:

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 139,000 people in 65 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to sharing its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.

For more information, visit http://www.cargill.com.

Cargill in Ghana

Cargill began operating in Ghana in 2008 with the opening of its world class cocoa processing facility in Tema.  The plant has an annual processing capacity of 65,000 metric tonnes with the potential to expand to 120,000.  Cargill in Ghana employs around 200 permanent staff, 200 daily contractors and many more are indirectly employed, supporting Ghana's growing economy.

Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate

Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate offers the food industry a wide range of both standard and customised cocoa and chocolate ingredients to be used in bakery, confectionery, and dairy applications all over the world. Its product range includes high quality Gerkens® cocoa powders, chocolate, coatings, fillings, cocoa liquors and cocoa butters. With years of experience in technical food expertise Cargill supports its customers in new recipes and new product development.

To secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans Cargill has cocoa bean sourcing operations in the cocoa growing countries of the world and besides Ghana, has processing plants in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, France, Germany, the Netherlands, UK and the USA - fully dedicated to produce in accordance with the highest food safety standards and resulting in delicious cocoa and chocolate products for its customers.

Cargill's Commitment to its Communities

Cargill works with a diverse group of partners to support responsible economic development and to bring positive, measurable improvements to the communities where we live and work. Our businesses and our people provide support by contributing time, talent and financial resources, as well as promoting good civic behaviour and dialogue between stakeholder groups.

We are committed to contributing 2 percent of our global consolidated pre-tax earnings, based on a three-year trailing average, to programs that are focused on improving nutrition and health, education and environmental stewardship.

We recognise our continued success depends on the growth and health of our communities and partners. We are committed to investing in, engaging with and respecting the cultures of the communities where we live and work to promote sustainable and responsible economic development, to create growth that improves living standards and promote vibrant, stable communities.

The Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program

The Cargill Sustainable Cocoa Program is working to secure the long term sustainability of cocoa production and to improve the lives of cocoa farmers and their families.

By teaching sustainable agricultural practices and introducing more business transparency it is enabling farmers to increase their yields and incomes. As well as strengthening the cocoa supply chain, the program is improving livelihoods in cocoa farming communities by supporting better access to education and healthcare.

In partnership with a range of organizations the program is making a real and lasting difference, and jointly with customers is working towards a sustainable future for mainstream cocoa.

SOURCE Cargill

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