COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Feb. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and Denmark's Toms Foundation are joining forces to convene later this year a cross-section of representatives from the chocolate and cocoa industry, cocoa-producing countries, development agencies, donor groups, non-governmental organizations and cocoa certifying bodies. The gathering, to be held on October 15-16, 2014, in Copenhagen, will focus on improving efforts to boost incomes, production levels, quality of life and technology for the world's five million-plus cocoa farmers.

Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation, said that the partnership with Toms Foundation is a natural choice for his organization. "Toms Foundation and WCF share a commitment to helping cocoa farmers improve their livelihoods. WCF's membership of more than 110 companies from around the world possesses some of the world's best expertise about sustainability in the cocoa sector. We look forward to learning more from them, and from our friends in Denmark, about practical steps that can be taken to advance the sustainability agenda," he said.

Jesper Moeller, CEO of Toms Confectionery Group, said "At Toms we are proud to enter this partnership with the World Cocoa Foundation. We look forward to welcoming the participants to Copenhagen in October and value the opportunity to share our experiences from Ghana in areas such as traceable cocoa, farmer training and primary school programs."

The meeting, which is expected to attract 200 attendees, will include sessions on new strategies for providing improved planting materials to cocoa farmers; plans for making fertilizers and other essential inputs more readily available to farmers; updates on efforts to establish widely agreed upon standards for quality and sustainability; defining and measuring success in programs that support cocoa farmers; the importance of educational, gender equality and child labor reduction programming in cocoa-growing communities; and recent innovations in technology and program implementation that can hasten improvements in the lives of cocoa farmers.

About Toms Foundation
The Toms Group Foundation was established 12^th December 1974 and is the sole owner of Toms Confectionary Group, a midsized producer of Chocolate and Candy with production facilities in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Poland.

About WCF
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) is an international membership foundation that promotes a sustainable cocoa economy by providing cocoa farmers with the tools they need to grow more and better cocoa, market it successfully, and make greater profits. WCF's membership includes cocoa and chocolate manufacturers, processors, supply chain managers, and other companies worldwide, representing more than 80% of the global cocoa market. For more information, visit www.worldcocoa.org.

SOURCE The World Cocoa Foundation