FAIRTRADE COCOA FARMERS

Are you a chocolate eater? Chocolate is one of the world’s favourite sweet treats, but cocoa farmers often face a bitter reality. Fairtrade is fighting for a better future.

Millions of cocoa farmers work extremely hard, under gruelling conditions, yet often don’t earn enough in return to cover their own basic needs – like decent food, housing and education. On average, cocoa farmers earn just 6% of the final value a bar of chocolate.

When terms of trade don’t work for cocoa farmers it exacerbates poverty and contributes to persistent problems like discrimination, exploitation and deforestation, which threaten the future of cocoa.

Choosing Fairtrade is a choice for change. Fairtrade sets social, economic and environmental standards for both companies and farmers and workers. By shoppers, businesses and policy makers coming together to make trade work for cocoa farmers we have the power to reverse this negative ripple effect. Together we can support the cocoa farmers on the frontlines of the climate crisis to adapt to the changing climate and protect their environment, to strengthen their businesses and improve their communities and to decide on the future for themselves and their children.

Only Fairtrade focuses on sustainable pricing and has the safety net of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and the Fairtrade Premium at its core, going further than any other label to move cocoa farmers towards a living income.

The Fairtrade standards and the Fairtrade Premium are proven to protect cocoa farmers from the volatility of the market, as well as supporting them to develop their businesses and communities and to invest in their futures. The standards are for the farmers to follow… they have to agree to sustainable practices in order to benefit from the Fairtrade organisation. They don’t just get handouts for nothing. But the help they receive in return for proper practice enables them to survive… work better… make a fair living by fair trading. That’s fair….

And it might just mean you don’t have to live without your chocolate fix in years to come…       FAIRTRADE.ORG.