As you take a bite into the creamy, rich chocolate bar, did you ever stop to think how your chocolate was made? Let’s face it, chocolate is a guilty pleasure everyone has. According to the documentary, “The Dark Side of Chocolate,” Faber (2010), about three million tons of chocolate are produced every year. This is a staggering number as it shows just how much chocolate is consumed by people around the world. We often don’t look at the consequences when eating something so delicious.
However, for thousands of children in the cocoa farms of West Africa, chocolate creates a sense of displeasure. Child labor in the chocolate industry is a billionaire dollar business that most people don’t know about. According to Crawford (2005), about 200,000 trafficked children are forced to work under severe conditions in the cocoa farms to distribute chocolate to countries around the world. Most of these children don’t have a family, lack education, or are tricked into thinking they would attain a job. According to Robbins (2017), the Ivory Coast, located in West Africa is home to the largest producer of chocolate; about 43% of the cocoa is produced there. After the children are sold or captured, they are then shipped to the Ivory Coast to begin their work. Most of these children come from bordered countries like Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, or Burkina Faso.
From these countries, traffickers take about 10 to 15 children at a time and force them into buses or motorcycles to cross the border to the Ivory Coast (Faber, 2010). Sadly, most of these children never see their families and are kept in the cocoa farms for the rest of their lives. These children are not just affected mentally, but also physically. According to the article, “Human Rights and Child Labour” (2016), the children are not fed regularly, often beat up if they tried to escape, and are forced to work for free; Furthermore, these children handle sharp tools that cause injuries and cuts, climb tall cocoa trees that likely causes falls, and are exposed to pesticides that cause ranges of health effects.
According to Slomkowski (2005), farmers only made 6% of the revenue of a single chocolate sold. One main reason why the farmers are receiving so little money is because the bigger corporations are earning most of the profits. This causes many farmers to quit working and investing in their farms. One huge effect of a farmer’s poor income and chocolate industries not paying the cocoa farmers sufficiently is child labor, as it helps to reduce the production costs. The production of chocolate starts from the cocoa plantations, where the cocoa beans are dried and harvested, which are sold to exporters, and then marketed in the stock exchange where the price of chocolate is now doubled. The stock exchange communicates with major chocolate manufacturers who then transform the cocoa beans into powder. The price of chocolate is now triple the original cost (Faber, 2010). It wasn’t until 2001 when the U.S. State Department saw the horrors of what they were seeing in the cocoa fields of the Ivory Coast (Slomkowski, 2005).
To this day, millions of children aged 11 to 16 years old continue to do hard labor in the cocoa farms just to provide chocolate for people around the world (Robbins, 2017). So, who is this “big bad guy” that is responsible for all this? Hypothetically speaking, there isn’t just one “big bad guy”; there’s more than one. The bad guys are the major chocolate suppliers you might have bought from during Halloween, Easter, or Valentine’s Day. It’s the major companies like Hershey, Nestle, Godiva, and Mars who have been keeping silent all these years. In fact, even after they signed a trade agreement in 2001 called The Harkin–Engel Protocol, these companies still continued to practice child labor. The Harkin-Engel Protocol stated that after 2008, these companies are prohibited from using child labor, and they must put an action to end child labor practices in their industry (Faber, 2010). Many of these chocolate companies know that child labor exists in their industry but have done nothing to stop this inhumane act. Some companies have denied that child labor is even prevalent in their industry, stating that, “the vast majority of cocoa farms are not owned by companies that make chocolate or supply cocoa, and we, therefore, don’t have direct control over cocoa farming and labor practices, the company will not accept responsibility for these conditions” (Faber, 2010).
In fact, many companies, like Hersey are making more than 50% of the profits, while children working in the company’s dangerous fields are making little to nothing (Robbins, 2017). Because of this, many labor organizations and humanitarian efforts began to emerge and have begun what is called the Fairtrade movement (Slomkowski, 2005). As you walked through the candy aisle, you might have seen a “Fairtrade certified” label on chocolate bars such as Alter Eco, BarkThins, Belvas, Divine Chocolate, and many more (Robbins, 2017). Those labels aren’t simply just labels; it’s a way of knowing whether the product you are buying is ethical or not. According to Crawford (2005), Fairtrade is a nonprofit organization that was established in the year 2000 when an employee-owned company started disturbing their cocoa mixed products under equal exchange labels. Since then, as people started acknowledging this ethical way of producing chocolate, demand for Fairtrade chocolate increased. According to Stabler (2011), Fairtrade refers to the practice of helping producers in developing countries by ensuring ethical labor practices are being met. This means eliminating the use of child labor and improving health and safety conditions for both children and farmers (Crawford, 2005).
So, if you buy chocolate that is Fairtrade marked, it means you are contributing to the safety of farmers not just in West Africa, but worldwide. You are also buying chocolate that was not produced by child labor. According to a journal article written by Iain A. Davies and Lynette J. Ryals (2010), Fairtrade has gotten so much commercial success in the market that they “compete head-to-head for shelf space with major retail brands.” The leading contribution to why Fairtrade has gotten so much success is because of their ties with popular chocolate companies like Divine and Alter Eco. According to Stabler (2011), despite the major impact Fairtrade has made, it still faces some criticism. Critics believe Fairtrade hasn’t really been doing its “job” to increase the rights of cocoa farmers. They argue that Fairtrade needs to start helping the farmers first, before seeking growth and industrialization, as well as, focus more on the farmers’ protection, educational access, and health, not just on child labor; However, this is entirely misunderstood, as Fairtrade doesn’t just try to end child labor, but also help to benefit the farmers in the cocoa farms. Fairtrade does this by allowing farmers to receive most of the profits earned through production, which thus goes into the development of schools, sanitation, plantation improvements, and effective control of the community (Crawford, 2005).
Fairtrade has also helped farmers by using traditional methods of farming that decreases erosion and deforestation in the farms, thus allowing their farms to become arable and habitable for growing crops and food (Slomkowski, 2005). So, what does this all mean, and why does it matter to me? I am not saying to stop buying chocolate at all, but to understand that there are options like Fairtrade chocolate. You can start contributing by demanding higher availability of Fairtrade products, educating yourself and raising awareness about Fairtrade products, and buying chocolate from companies that don’t produce their cocoa through child labor and unjust farming practices. Through this, we, as consumers, can make a change when buying our products.
Works Cited
- Crawford, Alan Pell. “SWEET REVENGE: FAIR TRADE Chocolate.” Vegetarian Times, no. 328, Feb. 2005, pp. 52–55.
- EBSCOhost. Davies, I., & Ryals, L. (2010). The Role of Social Capital in the Success of Fair Trade. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(2), 317–338. https://doi-org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1007/s10551-010-0468-3
- Faber, H. (2010). The Dark Side of Chocolate. Denmark. Bastard Film & TV Human Rights and Child Labour. (2016, February 19).
- Make Chocolate Fair! Robbins, John. (2017, February 13) Is There Child Slavery in Your Chocolate? Food Revolution Network. Retrieved from http://foodrevolution.org/blog/child-slavery-chocolate/.
- Slomkowski, K. (2005, Nov). CHOCOLATE’S DARK SIDE. E: The Environmental Magazine, 16, 33. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/229094448?accountid=14541
- Stabler, B. J. (2011). Fair Trade. In B. W. Lerner & K. L. Lerner (Eds.), In Context Series. Food: In Context (Vol. 1, pp. 257-259). Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.mutex.gmu.edu/apps/doc/CX1918600084/GVRL.xlit.gvrlmod?u=viva_gmu&sid=GVRL.xlit.gvrlmod&xid=214939d8
