Hershey to support basic nutrition for children in Ghana

The Hershey Co. announced a new Clinton Global Initiative 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.

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,” Mike Wege, Hershey's chief administrative officer, said.

In addition to capacity-building and training for 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.