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The Fairtrade Foundation hailed Nestlé’s 2009 announcement that Kit Kat is going Fairtrade as a breakthrough for cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), as well as for Kit Kat lovers in the UK and Ireland.

The move by Nestlé, which kicked off in January 2010 when the first certified Kit Kat four-finger bars arrived on shop shelves, benefited thousands of farmers in Côte d’Ivoire. As well as the Fairtrade price (or market price, if higher) for the cocoa, farmers’ organisations receive additional Fairtrade premium payments to invest in long-term community and business development projects of their own choice, such as education and healthcare, the environment or their businesses.

Amongst the first farmers to benefit were members of the cocoa co-operative Kavokiva, which was established in 1999 and Fairtrade certified in 2004, and now numbers 6,000 farmer members. Up until the announcement, Kavokiva farmers had sold very little on Fairtrade terms. The move not only enabled them to increase Fairtrade cocoa sales but also impacted other Fairtrade certified co-operatives and farmers’ groups looking to enter the Fairtrade market.