Ivory Coast cocoa farmer visits KitKat factory (From York Press)

Ivory Coast cocoa farmer Koaume Fasseri visits KitKat factory

9:27am Friday 27th January 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

COCOA farmer Koaume Fasseri’s picture has appeared on more than 400 million Fairtrade KitKat packets over the past two years.

Now he has visited the city as a guest of honour to see the chocolate bars being created at Nestlé’s huge factory in Haxby Road, from the arrival of the cocoa beans through to production and packing.

Mr Fasseri and Fulgence N’Guessan, the head of the Kavokiva cocoa cooperative on the Ivory Coast in Africa, were invited to York by the confectioner and Fairtrade Foundation to celebrate the second anniversary of the four-finger bar becoming Fairtrade certified.

As well as the factory, they visited York Minster and also went to Manor C of E School, where they yesterday met pupils taking part in the Archbishop of York’s Young Leaders Award scheme aimed at 14 to 16 year olds.

The Archbishop said he had visited the Kavokiva cooperative in 2009 with Nestlé Confectionery managing director David Rennie, and seen the dedication and hard work of farmers such as Mr Fasseri and Mr N’Guessan.

He said: “I think it’s fantastic that these young leaders at Manor School learn about the importance of the Fairtrade movement on KitKat’s second anniversary, and how this is making a difference for the well-being of cocoa farmers and their families.”

Mr Fasseri told The Press how Nestlé’s Fairtrade move had made a huge difference to his village in the Ivory Coast, where a school had been built.

Nestlé said the school was being completed as part of The Cocoa Plan, an initiative to hand over £65 million over the next ten years to address key farming, economic, social and environmental issues.

Harriet Lamb, executive director of Fairtrade Foundation UK, who joined the farmers at Manor School, said their visit to York had been a “rare and empowering experience for all involved”.

She said Nestlé’s original decision to make Kitkat four-finger bars Fairtrade had made an “incredible” difference to the lives of cocoa farmers and their families, leading to improvements to eduction for both children and adults, cleaner supplies of clean water and improvement to healthcare.