How the chocolate industry fails Ivory Coast and Ghanaian small cacao farmers - How to achieve sustainable food production for increased profit and well-being

Overview of the chocolate industry

In 2021, Ghana grew 1 million tons of cocoa. But it exported most of that to Europe and North America, where it was turned into chocolate. And the big bucks are in chocolate. Trapped in a trade relationship with Europe and struggling to process chocolate itself, Ghana sees little of the industry’s profits. So as chocolate companies rake in billions, cocoa farmers struggle to make a living income. We went to Ghana to see the impact on farmers and learn how local entrepreneurs are trying to keep chocolate dollars inside their country.

Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) leads the world in production and export of the cocoa beans used in the manufacture of chocolate, as of 2012, supplying 38% of cocoa produced in the world. West Africa collectively supplies two thirds of the world’s cocoa crop, with Ivory Coast leading production at 1.8 million tonnes as of 2017, and nearby Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo producing additional 1.55 million tonnes.

Ivory Coast overtook Ghana as the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans in 1978, and today is highly dependent on the crop, which accounts for 40% of national export income. The primary non-African competitor of Ivory Coast is Indonesia, which went from having almost non-existent domestic cocoa industry in the 1970s to becoming one of the largest producers in the market by the early 2000s. According to the UN FAO, Indonesia overtook Ghana and became the second-largest producer worldwide in 2006. (World Cocoa Foundation provides significantly lower figures for Indonesia, but concurs that it is the largest producer of cocoa beans outside West Africa.

Large chocolate producers such as Cadbury, Hershey’s, and Nestle buy Ivorian cocoa futures and options through Euronext whereby world prices are set.

Farming and production

The crop is grown in Ivory Coast mostly by smallholder farmers planting on 1–3 hectares. The pods containing the beans are harvested when a sufficient number are ripe, opened to separate the seeds and pulp from the outer rind, and the seeds and pulp are usually allowed to ferment somewhere on the farm, before the seeds are dried in a central location. The dried seeds are purchased by a traitant or buyer who travels among villages in an area to weigh, purchase and collect the crop. The traitant then takes the crop to a short-holding warehouse in a major town or city where the major exporters purchase the seeds and arrange for its export from Ivory Coast.

The entire process requires the laboured contribution of a variety of workers, from the farmer who owns the fields, to his laborers who may be family members (in most cases), to others in the village who harvest pods to ferment seeds at the same time, to the local buyers, and the middlemen between these purchasers and the exporters who finally get the crop to an export ship.

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Although chocolate is a multi-billion dollar industry, cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast, a West African country that supplies almost half of the world’s cocoa beans, are struggling to make ends meet. They earn just a few dollars a day.

Who we talking about?

Follow the journey of the humble cocoa bean from a tropical plantation to one of the world’s most loved products, chocolate. Find out how in today’s global value chain, sanitary and phytosanitary capacity helps to make sure that cocoa plants are free from pests and diseases and that chocolate is safe for consumers.

Barry Callebaut is a Belgian-Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.2 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate. It was created in 1996 through the merging of the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut and the French company Cacao Barry

Cargill: https://www.cargill.com/food-beverage/cocoa-chocolate

Olam
Olam Food Ingredients is now known as ofi. Focused on the raw materials and ingredient platforms that we’re known for globally – cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices. We still offer everything we did before. What’s new is that we’re adding capabilities – especially in product development – working closely with our customers, sharing our fresh ideas to inspire new concepts. Making it real at every step, from plant to palate.

With some two million children involved in the farming of cocoa in West Africa, primarily Ghana and Ivory Coast, child slavery and trafficking were major concerns in 2018. However, international attempts to improve conditions for children were failing because of persistent poverty, absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more intensive farming of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labour.

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Ivory Coast

About The Region

The Ivory Coast’s tropical climate makes it a perfect place for Theobroma cacao to grow, and farmers there harvest a variety of cash crops, with cocoa and coffee counting for more than half. In fact, seventy percent of the world’s cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast and Ghana. However, the Ivory Coast in particular has a terrible reputation for slave and child labour, with new investigative reports coming out almost yearly. This region is dominated by buyers focused on acquiring commodity, bulk cocoa at the lowest prices possible. Plus, environmental problems, poor health care, and political turmoil make it a harsh place to inhabit.

Cocoa beans in a **cacao pod** showing the outer rind, the seeds, and inner pulp

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Ghana

Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana

Website: http://www.crig.org.gh/

Mission Statement – Over the years, CRIG’s mission has been to:

undertake research into all problems relating to production of cocoa, kola, coffee, sheanut and other indigenous and introduced tree species, which produce fats similar to cocoa butter.
provide information and advise on all matters relating to production of cocoa, kola, coffee, sheanut and other indigenous and introduced tree species, which produce fats similar to cocoa butter.
undertake such activities as are incidental or conducive to the discharge of its functions

Current Mission

“To be a centre of excellence for developing sustainable, demand- driven, commercially oriented, cost-effective, socially and environmentally acceptable technologies which will enable stakeholders to realize the overall vision of the cocoa industry and that of the other mandate crops (Coffee, Shea, Kola and Cashew).”

Ghana is the world’s second biggest cocoa exporter. Outdated plantations, pathogens in trees and plants as well as the ever-growing drought are driving cocoa farmers into desperation.

Fairafric

We are fairafric – a German-Ghanaian social business that is revolutionizing the chocolate world. Africa’s raw materials have always been used primarily for the production of goods in the Global North. That is why it is important to us to go one step further, to process raw materials locally and to transfer the added value as far as possible to Africa. In order to achieve this goal, we produce world-class chocolate in Ghana – from tree to bar. In doing so, we create jobs outside agriculture and multiply local income in the country of cocoa origin. With every purchase of fairafric you help to create qualified jobs in Africa, which in turn lead to higher income, better access to higher education and health care. No development aid, but a real opportunity.

Niche Cocoa Industry, Ltd.

Niche Cocoa Industry, Ltd. is the leading privately operated cocoa processing company in Ghana established in 2011.

Niche produces high quality semi-finished cocoa products and confectionery for supply to the worldwide chocolate, ice cream and bakery industries. Semi-finished products include natural and deodorised cocoa buter, specialised cocoa liquor, and natural and alkalised cocoa powder. In confectioneries, Niche is a bean-to-bar producer of refined chocolate, chocolate drinks, and spreads.

With an installed capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year, Niche is the largest fully integrated cocoa processor in Ghana. With its state of the art quality control and strict adherence to HACCP and F55C22000 quality management system standards. the safety and consistency of all products is assured. This focus on excellence led to Niche’s receiving the Presidential National Award for Exporter of the Year in 2013,2014, and 2015.

To tailor its products to the needs of customers around the world, Niche is proud to offer cocoa products which are Halal, Kosher, Fair Trade, Organic, FDA, Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and UTZ certified.

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Fair Trade

Many everyday life goods get to us from all over the world. Even though they have crossed thousands of miles, their prices are shockingly low. On almost every occasion, this counts in to the disadvantage of the producers. While global players make gigantic profits, the farmers stay poor. Meanwhile, an alternative to this scenario does exist: Goods and products derived from fair trade. In Germany, labels like FAIRTRADE, GEPA, STEP or NATURLAND FAIR make the promise of trading while being aware of both sides of the production line.

Moka Origins
https://mokaorigins.com/pages/single-origin-cacao-ivory-coast
Through our partnership with ECOOKIM, we’re particularly excited to offer ethical, sustainable chocolate made with beans from the Ivory Coast.

About the ECOOKIM Cooperative

In 2004 several farming co-ops joined together with the intention of achieving more bargaining power for their crops, calling themselves the Enterprise Cooperative Kimbe (ECOOKIM). It’s dedicated to fairly compensating its members for high-quality cocoa beans. ECOOKIM now supports more than 21,000 cacao producers and more than 1,500 cashew and coffee producers. It has built 12 schools in rural areas for children who had limited access to education. Plus, higher premiums allow farmers to receive more for their beans, and the extra income is most often invested back into the communities. ECOOKIM also teaches better farming techniques, harvesting protocols, post-harvest practices, yield rates, and sustainable environmental practices.

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This film gives an overview on the various efforts to develop the supply chain in the cocoa sector towards sustainability.

Environmental damage

Ivory Coast tests new cocoa traceability system to fight deforestation

ABIDJAN, March 3, 2022 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast will launch a pilot project in April to trace cocoa beans from farm to market, aiming to tackle issues such as deforestation and child labour, the head of the West African nation’s cocoa regulator said on Thursday.

The new system will allow manufacturers and consumers to know the exact origin and production conditions of cocoa beans, the main ingredient in chocolate.

It will also introduce a new payment system aimed at ensuring farmers get a fair wage.

The move comes in response to plans by the European Union to ban imports of commodities and products linked to deforestation and human rights abuses.

“The objectives of our traceability system is to control the origins and the entire circuit of beans, fight against deforestation and pay the guaranteed price to farmers,” said Yves Brahima Kone, head of the Cocoa and Coffee Council (CCC).

Currently, exporters have their own traceability systems that are not compatible with one another and do not make it possible to accurately determine the route of Ivorian beans from production to market.