New Way to Ensure Your Favourite Chocolate Is an Ethical Treat
Chocolate is widely seen as an affordable and essentially harmless treat - a food of comfort, celebration and joy. But those bars, cakes and Easter eggs are also part of a U.S.$84 billion a year global industry with a troubling history of social and environmental harm. Over two million child labourers are estimated to be working on cocoa farms in West Africa. Some are tricked or sold into slavery on those farms where they are forced to carry heavy loads of cocoa, use harmful pesticides, and handle machetes. Reports suggest the problem is getting worse, despite promises from large chocolate producers.
At the heart of this complex issue is the difficulty of tracing cocoa from farms to the end product. The majority of the world's crop - around 70% - is grown on small farms in remote areas of Ghana and Cote d' Ivoire. But research suggests a solution could now be within reach, with a reliable system that tracks the journey from cocoa trees to the chocolate in homes.
The system uses something called "biomarkers", which are like biochemical fingerprints or bar codes extracted from the plant's DNA. These provide a unique identifier of a plant that is also observed in its beans. This allows for the identification of an individual farm's beans from a mixture of beans of different origins in the final product. The method has now been successfully tested in a study of cocoa supply chains, tracing specific plants on individual farms through to chocolate products, writes Michael Rogerson, PhD Candidate, University of Bath; Glenn Parry, Professor of Digital Transformation, University of Surrey, and Pedro Lafargue, Research Fellow, University of the West of England.
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West Africa:
Chocolate - a New Way to Make Sure Your Favourite Bar Is an Ethical Treat
The Conversation Africa, 14 July 2021
Chocolate has a special place in many of our lives. It is widely seen as an affordable and essentially harmless treat - a food of comfort, celebration and joy. But those bars,… Read more »
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Liberia:
Solidaridad Launches Support for 3,000 Cocoa Farmers in Grand Gedeh, River Gee Counties
FrontPageAfrica, 4 May 2021
In its quest to assist farmers with skills in Cocoa best management practice, Solidaridad has extended its Cocoa Value Chain Development Program (COVADEP) to farmers in Grand Gedeh… Read more »
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West Africa:
Cocoa Farming, Cheap Chocolate and Child Labor
DW, 26 November 2020
Practically everyone loves chocolate. And yet, child labor remains a problem in cocoa farming. For years, the chocolate industry has promised to end the practice, but a new study… Read more »
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West Africa:
We Must Understand the Context of Cocoa Farming to Stop Child Labour in West Africa
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 15 June 2021
Manufacturers, NGOs and stakeholder groups cannot combat child labour and trafficking in West Africa without understanding the context of cocoa farming Read more »
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West Africa:
Why Efforts By Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to Help Cocoa Farmers Haven't Worked
The Conversation Africa, 29 June 2021
A cocoa pricing agreement designed to protect farmers in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana from destitution is being circumvented by multinationals, the main buyers of cocoa beans. Read more »
InFocus
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Ghana has announced an increase of the guaranteed cocoa price it pays to farmers - 28% per ton for the new growing season - an attempt to improve the livelihoods of its farmers. ... Read more »
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With Ghana having a high volume of cocoa beans to trade with the world, the higher price for the commodity could see poor farmers able to employ labourers to assist them. Read more »
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