Hershey Announces Clinton Global Initiative Commitment To Build A Sustainable Supply Chain To Support Basic Nutrition For Children In Ghana

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hershey Company announced a new Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action to train 7,500 farmers in Ghana on improved agronomic practices, empowering them to supply local commercial markets with safe and high-quality peanuts to produce Vivi, a vitamin and mineral-fortified nutritional supplement distributed to school children in Ghana. Hershey commits to 100% local sourcing of peanuts for its production of Vivi by 2018.

Providing children with the basic nutrition they need to learn, grow and be successful in school remains a challenge across West Africa. Hershey produces and distributes these much-needed nutritional supplements at no cost to the children through a partnership with the Ghana School Feeding Programme and nonprofit Project Peanut Butter.

“Ghana has a long history of producing peanuts, known locally as groundnuts. Yet rural farmers lack access to commercial buyers due to quality and food safety issues, so they struggle with low incomes,” said Mike Wege, Chief Administrative Officer at The Hershey Company. “By sharing our world class expertise in peanut production, roasting and processing, we hope to increase the quality and safety of Ghana’s peanut supply, improve the livelihoods of its farmers and promote a sustainable supply chain for basic nutrition.”

In addition to capacity building and training for local peanut farmers, Hershey will provide financial and in-kind resources to rehabilitate a local peanut roasting facility and implement training on the appropriate roasting techniques. Hershey will establish a premium price for purchasing the peanuts as an ingredient for the Vivi nutritional supplement.

The commitment to source 100% local peanuts for Vivi is part of Hershey’s global social purpose to provide children with the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow. It builds on Hershey’s existing Energize Learning program, which will help feed 50,000 Ghanaian children by 2016 by distributing Vivi during the school day.

For more information, visit NourishingMinds.com.

About the Clinton Global Initiative

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.

In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States; and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. This year, CGI also convened CGI Middle East & Africa, which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company, headquartered in Hershey, Pa., is a global confectionery leader known for bringing goodness to the world through its chocolate, sweets, mints and other great-tasting snacks. Hershey has approximately 22,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 80 brands around the world that drive more than $7.4 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Hershey'sKisses, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers and Brookside. Building on its core business, Hershey is expanding its portfolio to include a broader range of delicious snacks. The company remains focused on growing its presence in key international markets while continuing to extend its competitive advantage in North America.

At Hershey, goodness has always been about more than delicious products. For more than 120 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on giving underserved children the skills and support they need to be successful. Today, the company continues this social purpose through 'Nourishing Minds,' a global initiative that provides basic nutrition to help children learn and grow. From neighborhoods across the United States to the streets of Shanghai and Mumbai and villages of West Africa, our goal is to nourish one million minds by 2020.