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Judi Lynn

(160,077 posts)
Fri Oct 10, 2014, 02:06 AM Oct 2014

The Chocolate Revolution: Central American Start-Up Seeks To Grow Sustainable Cocoa Production

The Chocolate Revolution: Central American Start-Up Seeks To Grow Sustainable Cocoa Production
10/10/2014 @ 12:00AM

We have a chocolate problem. And it’s not just about the impact it will have on our waists this Halloween. It’s even bigger than that.

Here are the top three most important things chocolate lovers need to know:


1. Smallholder cocoa farmers are underpaid and impoverished: Ninety percent of the world’s cocoa is produced by five million small-producer farmers in West Africa, Latin America, and Asia. These farmers are getting minimal pay, with the majority of cocoa farmers globally living on less than $2 per day. Farmer poverty is widespread, while big manufacturers are capturing the vast majority of profits from the nearly $100 billion global chocolate industry.

2. Demand for cocoa is growing, but farmer income isn’t improving: An estimated 4.4 million tons of cocoa (or cacao) are produced every year. That demand is expected to grow over 30 percent in the next five years as countries like China, India, and Brazil start eating more chocolate. The majority of farmers are unlikely to see the benefit of this growing market. In fact, many farmers have given up on cocoa and switched to other more lucrative, often environmentally destructive crops like palm oil. The average age of a cocoa farmer in West Africa, which produces about 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, is 51—which means farmers’ kids are abandoning the crop. So unless you’re paying more for your chocolate bar and know where your chocolate maker is sourcing their cocoa, unfortunately you’re probably just feeding (and eating) the problem.

3. Reliance on Fair Trade labels and other certifications to solve these problems hasn’t worked, and likely won’t in the future: The root cause of cocoa farmer poverty is that the revenue farmers receive does not cover their cost of production. Farmers, lacking resources to invest in increasing their cocoa yields, are locked in a cycle of poverty. Certification schemes work by adding a premium for farmer cooperatives onto the global commodity market price, but the certifications are expensive to obtain and in some cases the extra income from selling certified cocoa may not even cover the costs of certification. And the premiums generally go into a bank account managed by the farmer cooperative for social projects, not into farmers’ pockets. The impact of these premiums on driving improvement in livelihoods at scale has not been proven, and does not directly address or solve the root cause of cocoa farmer poverty.

More:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2014/10/10/the-chocolate-revolution-central-american-start-up-seeks-to-grow-sustainable-cocoa-production/
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