Chances are you ate some chocolate this week. While people love cocoa, they wouldn’t love the conditions faced by many of the people who grow it.
The world’s appetite for cocoa is booming. And yet cocoa farmers around the world often struggle to make a living, despite their position as the source of a highly prized commodity. Widespread poverty, deforestation, gender inequality, child labour and forced labour are persistent problems in the cocoa sector which could ultimately destroy it. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Cocoa has grown to be one of the most prominent Fairtrade products since it was first certified in 1994. Fairtrade is pushing the confectionary sector to address a host of challenges that threaten the long-term sustainability of cocoa and the people behind it. Fairtrade is helping to change the cocoa business for the better in a number of ways. When you choose Fairtrade cocoa and chocolate, you are supporting this drive for change.
- Fairtrade cocoa farmers are paid a Fairtrade Minimum Price for their goods, which acts as a safeguard when market prices drop. Organic production is incentivised with a higher Minimum Price.
- On top of the Minimum Price, farmer organisations also receive a Fairtrade Premium which they invest in projects of their choice. Many farmers have used the Premium to improve their businesses and production, replacing old trees and investing in better facilities for crop collection, storage and transport, or processing.
- The confectionary industry is highly consolidated, and Fairtrade works with key industry players to enable them to source large volumes of sustainably produced cocoa. More sales mean more benefits for farmers.
- Fairtrade is also pushing the envelope to establish living incomes for small-scale farmers. If we want cocoa in the future, cocoa farmers need to earn a decent and viable living from their work.
- By supporting smallholder farmers to organise themselves into small producer organisations – such as cooperatives and associations – farmers can negotiate better terms of trade and reach wider markets.
Many cocoa farmers have never tasted chocolate, the lucrative consumer product that so much of the rest of the planet’s people enjoys. When you choose Fairtrade cocoa and chocolate, you help to put the livelihoods of those farmers back at the (chocolate) heart of the matter.
As a leader in the global movement to make trade fair, Fairtrade supports and challenges businesses and governments while connecting farmers and workers with the people who buy their products. Look for the Fairtrade Mark on the products you buy.
Fairtrade International has been engaging with Indian farmers for more than two decades now. In 2013, Fairtrade launched the Fairtrade Mark (an independent consumer label which appears on products as a guarantee that they have been produced according to Fairtrade Standards) in India.
Cocoa facts: did you know?
44.4 million euros: Amount of Fairtrade Premium cocoa farming organisations received in 2018
263,825: Number of Fairtrade cocoa farmers worldwide in 2017
1,170,612: Number of hectares of land dedicated to cultivating Fairtrade cocoa in 2017
From pod to seed to bean: Fruit pods from cocoa trees contain 30-40 seeds, which are extracted, fermented and dried in the sun, turning them into cocoa beans. The beans can be further processed into powder, butter and liquor for use in everything from the familiar chocolate bar to drinks and cosmetics.
22: Number of countries where Fairtrade cocoa is grown. Cocoa is a tropical plant that only grows in hot and humid regions close to the Equator.
