Firstly, if haven’t visited us yet we encourage you to do so IMMEDIATELY. Uganda is beautiful! It’s a vibrant, exciting, fertile land – full of such amazing, friendly people.  You’ll see all this in your first few hours – but of course, we encourage you to stay as long as possible…

Secondly, we felt this great country with such wonderful cocoa was severely underrepresented in the world of chocolate, which didn't sit well with us at all. Even worse are the practices used by cocoa and chocolate companies around the world, as you're surely aware. So, we decided to grab our clichés by the hand and ‘be the change we want to see in the world’ by tackling both at once – better chocolate on better terms.

For custom Uganda tour organizing, contact our specialist at tours@latitudetrade.co

Today we're paying farmers $2.26 / kg at the farm-gate (exclusive of processing, transport, and bags).

Latitude buys fresh cocoa. That means farmers harvest and deliver it the same day to our collection point near their farms. The company assumes all costs and risks of fermentation, drying, transport, bagging and storage. We estimate this is an additional benefit of $0.10 / kg. Beyond financial impact, this is really important for risk mitigation as Ugandan cocoa is harvested and dried during the rainy season in a volatile socio-political environment. By selling fresh, farmers not only avoid the extra costs, but they also avoid any risk of theft or spoilage.

While we try as much as possible to align your contribution to the exact farmer on our website, that is super difficult to promise. School fees are due when they’re due and Principal Evelyn is no pushover, so we can’t really wait around to help our farmers out.

Rest assured though, 100% of contributions go into our revolving loan portfolio for the suppliers.

This allows us to grow the number of loans we can disburse and manage some of the default risk so we’re sure to not let anyone down.

If you’re concerned, we’re here to chat! Reach out and we’ll be happy to explain how it works and provide you some more information for peace of mind.

Once the farmer repays the loan, this money goes out to the next farmer. Latitude operates separate accounts for the loan program to ensure no crossover and no funny business. Our revolving portfolio of funds and any contributions to it are solely for the purposes of lending to farmers.

Relationships, money and time.

Relationships: we build mutually beneficial relationships with our farmers and our supply chain partners to create an alignment of goals. It means we’re all in it for the same reasons (and we all reject child labor).

Money: we pay more. No bones about it. Well, we also provide loans, which help our suppliers. No parent wants their children to be home from school and no farm owner wants their workers to be unhappy. That’s a fact. By supporting our suppliers with a good price and microfinance opportunities, we can ensure they don’t have to choose between paying school fees, paying laborers or putting food on the table.

Time: we spend the time and effort to train every farmer and to visit every individual farmer in our program. Doing so allows us many opportunities to reinforce the latitude sourcing principles and closely monitor any potential violations.

Our chocolate is made in a facility that handles tree nuts, wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts and soy.

All our bars are gluten free. The Semuliki 70%, Rwenzori 80% and Bukonzo Coffee Bars are also vegan and lactose free.

Certified B Corporations are for-profit companies that use the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. They meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. To date, there are more than 2,500 B Corps in 130 industries and 60 countries around the world.

Right here online or through one of our retailers listed below!

If we’re not near you then please do drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.

USA
Bar & Cocoa

UK
Cocoa Runners

Of course! Get in touch with our team at factory@latitudetrade.co about wholesale opportunities.

Yep! Send us an email explaining your situation and we’ll hook you up.