São Tomé and Príncipe: Fairtrade Premiums Light Up Communities in Africa

press release

São Tomé and Príncipe, an island in the Gulf of Guinea, is one of West Africa's smallest cocoa exporters. The country counts only one Fairtrade certified cooperative - CACAQ 11. Certified since 2009, the members have invested the Fairtrade premium in several projects: new cocoa fields have been opened up, clean water and sanitation projects rolled out and storage facilities built.

Last year, the farmers decided to use their premium money to repair a generator. For a long time, farmers had been experiencing frequent power outages. They bought power cables and built a separate generator room. Osvaldo Estevão, a cocoa producer in the cooperative, says: 'Fairtrade is really changing our lives and improving our standard of living.'

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