While chocolate is sweet for us, it can be heartbreaking for the hundreds of thousands of child labourers that pick the cocoa that goes into some of our favourite treats. In 2001, the U.S. State Department, the International Labor Organization and others reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, source of 43% of the worlds cocoa. Subsequent research by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture revealed some 284,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 working in hazardous conditions on West African cocoa farms. Of these children, it was reported that some 12,000 child cocoa workers that had participated in the study were likely to have arrived in their situation as a result of child trafficking.

The cause of these problems is poverty. With annual revenues for cocoa farmers in the region averaging between $30-$108 per household member, per year, many cocoa farming families face difficult choices about whether to have their children work on the farm or send them to school. According to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, some two thirds of all cocoa workers do not regularly attend school. Some families are so poor that their children are tricked or inadvertently sold into slavery in the hopes of earning additional income to help make ends meet. read more  - Global Exchange Website

Want a solution that tackles this problem? Fair trade. Fair trade guarantees producers the income they need to send their kids to school and pay their workers and provides consumers a trusted guarantee that no forced or abusive child labour was used.

More information on the problems in the chocolate industry - learn more and reconfirm your decision to buy fair trade chocolate that guarantees no exploitative child labour is involved.

Do you use chocolate to fundraise in your school? Learn more about fundraising with Trade Aid. Use fair trade chocolate to raise funds while raising your students understanding of global issues.

Use this children's story to highlight some of the issues surrounding cocoa in Western Africa

• Chaga and the Chocolate Factory

	Belgium Chocolate ...manufactured by renowned Belgian chocolate makers, Barry Callebaut! Using finest quality cocoa from Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana, and sugar from Coopecanera in Costa Rica, Trade Aid's chocolate is much loved for it's rich high-in-cocoa flavour. All our chocolate is GE-free and gluten-free. Our dark (fondant) bars are dairy-free as well.
Organic Mocha, Almond, 70% Cocoa, Orange and Mint chocolate - Delicious, quality fair trade organic chocolate that makes a difference! Manufactured in Switzerland, this chocolate range uses the finest quality cocoa from Bolivia, The Dominican Republic and Peru with sugar from The Philippines read more here

Sales of cocoa to the fair trade market have enabled Kuapa Kokoo to provide it's members with:

• access to credit and banking services
• new equipment, which greatly improves the efficiency of production and reduces their dependency on middlemen
• funding for community projects

   

images courtesy of FTAANZ