The big international chocolate companies are increasingly
seeking measures to ensure that their supply of the confection’s main
ingredient cocoa, mostly grown in West Africa, is
secure.
The efforts go far beyond just cultivation issues. A key
area of attempted intervention is the controversial one of child labor on
family farms. In many traditional settings, it is considered entirely normal
for children to take part in family farming, but there is a particular outcry
about it in leading chocolate markets. Seeking to avoid accusations of
supporting child exploitation, several chocolate majors have announced
high-profile projects which they fund or are otherwise involved in to stop the
practice.
Competing chocolate companies are coming together to support
efforts for farmers to produce more cocoa to meet rising world demand.
Some of the threats they worry about: Space to grow cocoa is
limited; it only thrives in equatorial climates. About a third of the crop
grown every year is trashed because of pests and disease. Unstable political
conditions in cocoa-producing nations also adds to the volatility in the
market.
U.S.-based Hershey has just announced a $10 million project to
help end child labor. The company also supports a program to provide cocoa
farmers climate and pest control information by cell phone.
Other companies are involved in improving access to
education and other services in cocoa-growing regions.
Will all these efforts actually help West Africa’s
cocoa farmers?
more…Fortune Magazine
