Update on the projects financed by the Buffer Stock Fund

The Buffer Stock Fund is a subsidy provided by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food (Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit - LNV) to stimulate the sustainable development of the cocoa and chocolate sectors for a period of four years (January 2004 to December 2007). This subsidy was derived from the Dutch part of the revenues generated through the sale of the cocoa buffer stock. This stock has been accumulating since 1974, when the Netherlands became involved in several International Cocoa Agreements. The rationale behind this stock was that by jointly buying or selling cocoa countries would be able to maintain a stable price on the world market. Because of the limited effect of this system and the liberalisation of trade, it was decided to liquidate the stock in 1993.

The total subsidy of 12 million Euro has benefited 22 different projects in both consumer and production countries (such as Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea). Types of activities eligible for this subsidy include research and development; general information supply; education, training and technical assistance; and investment. 

The allocation of the subsidy was in the hands of a steering committee of experts from the Dutch cocoa sector. The approved projects sought to contribute to the sustainable development of the sector and to foster capacity and institution building in countries of origin; system, process, or product innovations that contribute to strengthening the economic structure of the sector or the improvement of the quality of products; improvement in the wellbeing of employees working in the cocoa sector in origin countries and their families and reduction of the environmental impact of the sector. 

The following table gives an overview of the projects that were subsidized under this scheme. For most of the projects an update of their status and outcomes is available: