What is the problem with chocolate?

While chocolate is sweet for us, it can be heartbreaking for the hundreds of thousands of child laborers that pick the cocoa that goes into some of our favorite 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 familes 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.

Up to date information on the problems in the chocolate industry 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? read here for more information on fundraising with Trade Aid!  Use fair trade chocolate to raise funds while raising your students understanding of global issues.

...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.

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

"Fairtrade has changed my life - we can rely on getting a fair price for our beans, which means I am able to stay in school. I am going to apply for a scholarship. In Ghana more boys get the chance to continue their education than girls - girls are expected to marry at 16 and have children. My dream is to be a scientist and to look for cures to diseases"
- Rigayato, Kuapa Kokoo


   
images courtesy of FTAANZ