Ethiopia is working on it and Kenya is doing it with Tea
There's a new day coming in Africa
Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo Says Ghana will no Longer Export Cocoa to Switzerland
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There's a new day coming in Africa
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The 1.5 million child slaves behind your chocolate bar
Industrial food heavyweights like Nestlé USA, Hershey and MARS Inc., rely on cocoa grown in Côte D'Ivoire, the Ivory Coast, to make their confections. And the West African nation relies on enslaved child laborers to farm its cocoa crops, a well-known fact in the candy world that keeps the cocoa at favorably low prices for the big companies.
A class-action civil suit brought against the big chocolate companies sheds stark light on the entire candy bar industry. It outlines the relationships between the candy makers and the cocoa farms in West Africa, which provide 70% of the world's cocoa supply. Half is grown in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Most American chocolate is made from Ivory Coast cocoa beans.
In cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and the Ivory Coast more than 43% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 living in agricultural households are engaged in hazardous work.
The plaintiffs are eight former enslaved children who, the court papers charge, were trafficked from their home country Mali, and sold to cocoa farms in the neighboring West African country.
"This lawsuit against the cocoa and chocolate industry is about much more than the eight Malian citizens who were trafficked and exploited as child slaves to harvest cocoa," says Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, founder of Cacao for Change and Cartoons for Change. Both organizations in Strasbourg, France, seek to raise awareness of child labor in both the cocoa and coffee trades.
"The business model of the chocolate industry is cruel, exploitative, and illegal because it exploits between 2.2 and 3 million children worldwide, besides exploiting millions of farmers and farmworkers, all to buy cocoa for less than one-third of the real price," Morales-de la Cruz said.
He noted that a number of chocolate companies run their revenues through Switzerland to avoid taxes in countries, like the United States, where they earn their profits selling chocolate confections. "With their Swissploitation business model the cartel of cocoa companies 'saves' more than $20 billion per year buying cheap cocoa," he said.
The 1.5 million child slaves behind your chocolate bar
Industrial food heavyweights like Nestlé USA, Hershey and MARS Inc., rely on cocoa grown in Côte D'Ivoire, the Ivory Coast, to make their confections. And the West African nation relies on enslaved child laborers to farm its cocoa crops, a well-known fact in the candy world that keeps the cocoa at favorably low prices for the big companies.
A class-action civil suit brought against the big chocolate companies sheds stark light on the entire candy bar industry. It outlines the relationships between the candy makers and the cocoa farms in West Africa, which provide 70% of the world's cocoa supply. Half is grown in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Most American chocolate is made from Ivory Coast cocoa beans.
In cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and the Ivory Coast more than 43% of all children between the ages of 5 and 17 living in agricultural households are engaged in hazardous work.
The plaintiffs are eight former enslaved children who, the court papers charge, were trafficked from their home country Mali, and sold to cocoa farms in the neighboring West African country.
"This lawsuit against the cocoa and chocolate industry is about much more than the eight Malian citizens who were trafficked and exploited as child slaves to harvest cocoa," says Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, founder of Cacao for Change and Cartoons for Change. Both organizations in Strasbourg, France, seek to raise awareness of child labor in both the cocoa and coffee trades.
"The business model of the chocolate industry is cruel, exploitative, and illegal because it exploits between 2.2 and 3 million children worldwide, besides exploiting millions of farmers and farmworkers, all to buy cocoa for less than one-third of the real price," Morales-de la Cruz said.
He noted that a number of chocolate companies run their revenues through Switzerland to avoid taxes in countries, like the United States, where they earn their profits selling chocolate confections. "With their Swissploitation business model the cartel of cocoa companies 'saves' more than $20 billion per year buying cheap cocoa," he said.
You Win Perfect
bow down
Shut up. immigrant babbleOur continent? but you ADOS nikkas been screaming America is good enough and you dont need Africa anymore
Frangala
All Star
We need that continent to provide 21st century amenities electricity, specialized education so Africa can process raw materials adding value along the supply chain so Ghana can sell manufactured Ghanaian chocolate to the rest of the world. Simple solution however politicians in that continent prefer to be short sighted.
Blackrogue
Superstar
Blackrogue
Superstar
Even if they did. Ghana still makes more by adding value to their product at home regardless of the competition.
Blackrogue
Superstar
Africa is not South America CIA and the Brits wont be able to infiltrate and fukk up the infrastructure
Look at congo
Flu Game502
All Star
You one hoe ass nikkathats the energy and mantra here on the coli. one day its pro-africa, the next day is anti-Africa, Anti-African Immigrants.
Chrishaune
Veteran
Update for petroleum hub
I could be wrong, but I think the point is instead of giving the raw cocoa to the Swiss and letting them make and sell chocolate around the world, they're going to keep the cocoa, make the chocolate themselves, and now become the chocolate exporters.
Essentially I see it as them putting a higher price on foreign countries who want their raw cocoa while at the same time bringing jobs to Ghana since people will need to not just harvest cocoa but now new people will need to make it into chocolate, and on top of it all Ghana will become an exporter of chocolate, a product, to the world rather than just cocoa, the raw material
get these nets
Veteran
July 9, 20227:55 AM EDTLast Updated a day ago
Cocoa buyers back Ivory Coast and Ghana's cocoa premium schemes
Reuters
A man prepares cocoa beans for sale in Daloa, which produces a quarter of Ivory Coast's national cocoa output. REUTERS/ Thierry Gouegnon
ABIDJAN, July 8 (Reuters) - Major cocoa buyers have agreed to pay a premium and back a price floor on cocoa sold by Ivory Coast and Ghana as part of an agreement reached on Friday to combat poverty among farmers.
Cocoa industry players will back a fixed "living income differential" (LID) of $400 a tonne on all cocoa contracts sold by Ivory Coast or Ghana, two top global cocoa producers.
Buyers will also pay a country premium that will enable cocoa regulators in both countries to reach a target floor price of $2,600 per tonne which should allow farmers to earn a minimum of 70% of the target floor price.
Signatories include Hershey (HSY.N), Mars, Blommer Chocolate, Nestle (NESN.S), Sucden, Mondelez (MDLZ.O), Touton, Barry Callebaut (BARN.S), Cargill, Ferrero, Olam and Ecom Trading.
Both countries have struggled to achieve that price target, prompting the Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) to work with the industry on a price mechanism.
"Companies in the cocoa value chain have met with the governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana to renew support for the LID as a starting point towards the pathway to achieving living incomes for farmers," the CIGCI and both countries' cocoa regulators said in a joint statement.
Touton Chief Executive Patrick De Boussac said the company is trying to improve pay for farmers.
"What we have signed for today is a better remuneration for planters," De Boussac said.
Yves Brahima Kone, chief executive of the Ivory Coast Cocoa and Coffee Council, said companies had been dragging their feet on LID commitments, hindering efforts to make the industry more sustainable.
"The aim of the pact is to allow all actors in the cocoa value chain to play their role and respect their engagements," he said
Botswana showed the way with Diamonds and there's a fair amount of countries with Diamonds, But Botswana is the world leader of gem quality diamonds by value.