According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation, 10 countries are responsible for more than 90 percent of the world’s cacao.

The top 10 countries are:

1. Ivory Coast
2. Indonesia
3. Ghana
4. Nigeria
5. Cameroon
6. Brazil
7. Ecuador
8. Togo
9. Papua New Guinea
10. Dominican Republic

For the majority of these countries, cacao is one of the top ten export products. Cacao grows naturally 15 to 30 degrees above and below the equator. This belt encircling the globe is sometimes referred to as the “brown band” given the disproportionate prevalence of deforestation, desertification and poverty there. According to Social Watch, this area is also known as the “band of poverty.”

Using the World Bank’s poverty line of $1.25 per day, there are 1.4 billion people living in poverty across the globe. While poverty levels around the world have lowered, there is still work to be done to help those in poverty learn how to sustain themselves and their families, which in turn, affects health, life expectancy and the micro-economies of the affected regions.

The Foundation’s first closed-loop funding program, Project Ecuador, is helping the cacao farming communities of the San Carlos Cooperative become self-sufficient.