Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) West African and (b) South and Latin American cocoa producers supplying (i) the UK and (ii) other EU countries while earning less than the living income.

DFID has not made an estimate of the number of cocoa producers in West Africa and South and Latin America supplying the UK and the EU while earning less than the living income.

DFID is committed to driving inclusive and sustainable growth that lifts people out of poverty. More than 8 million people have benefited from DFID’s current agriculture programmes since 2010. In West Africa we are supporting the Cocoa and Forest Initiative to promote a sustainable cocoa sector which benefits smallholder farmers.