Tag Archives: cocoa kids

Ben and Jerry’s and Cocoa.

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We heard that Ben and Jerry’s are using slave free cocoa in their products.  This is what I found on their websites regarding this issue.  They don’t use the word slave ever but below are their statements on ethical sourcing in general and specifically with cocoa.  You can also find these on their website page about Fair Trade.

This is what they say about Fair Trade:

Fair Trade Progress
Ben & Jerry’s continues its journey down the Fair Trade sourcing path this year. We are the first ice cream company to use Fair Trade ingredients and it started with our coffee flavors in 2005. Ben & Jerry’s is committed to sourcing Fair Trade-certified ingredients when they are available by 2013. This transition is the most intensive product overhaul that the company has ever undertaken, everyone is involved, from the people supplying the ingredients, to the Flavor Gurus. To learn more about Fair Trade Certified products and the Fair Trade movement, visit www.FairTradeCertified.org

Ben & Jerry’s is about making the world’s best ice cream in the nicest possible way; remembering that business has a responsibility to give back to the community.

This is what they say about cocoa.

Fair Trade Cocoa
We source some of our Fair Trade cocoa powder from cooperatives in the Ivory Coast. This one country sells about 40% of the world’s cocoa, yet only a small percentage of their harvest is sold on Fair Trade terms. The higher prices the farmers receive with Fair Trade, the more they are able to invest in health care, women’s empowerment, micro-credit programs, education and environmental conservation.  

We are also sourcing Fair Trade Certified cocoa powder from producers in Ghana. The impact of purchasing Fair Trade Certified cocoa powder is seen across Ghanaian communities.  The funds from purchasing Fair Trade cocoa has allowed for Mobile Health Programs to visit the cooperative member’s villages. They have provided money for medical supplies, buildings, and treatment for over 1000 farmers in 2010.  

Improvement in the quality education in Ghana is seen where the Fair Trade Certified cocoa funds have aided in numerous school buildings projects, support for rural schools and distribution of school kits. Child labor sensitivity workshops are held to help educate communities and scholarships are given to mothers and children in cocoa communities.

Our chocolate ice cream is made with Fair Trade Certified cocoa powder. You can also find Fair Trade Certified Chocolate at your local Scoop Shop.

The position they are taking is wonderful.  But, again we must keep iterating that sourcing everything Fair Trade is only part of the pie.  An important part of the pie, no less. Fair labor practices are a trickle down benefit of a Fair Trade program.  If we had treated the commodities world from day one with a Fair Trade philosophy we wouldn’t be in this mess. As Ben and Jerry’s points out, only about 4% of the cocoa is stamped with a Fair Trade mark.  That isn’t enough for them or any bigger player to use exclusively.  BUT, if we had a separate certification program like was promised by those who signed the Harkin-Engel protocol then it wouldn’t matter that only 4% of the cocoa was fair trade.  Remember that no Fair Trade program is designed to eradicate or re-mediate the current problems of the worst forms of child labor in our cocoa or any other sector for that matter.  In some ways, its an easy out for corporations.  If the Ben and Jerry company could be real heroes by announcing that while switching to fair trade sourced products when available they are ALSO going to their suppliers and to our DOL and to Harkin’s and Engel’s office and demand a Certification program that insure that the cocoa they buy is slave free whether it is fair trade or not.

 

On Hershey’s PR Release of January, 30th 2012

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On  January 31st  2012,  The Hershey Company made an announcement regarding child labor in their supply line.  Click here to read the whole statement.   Simply, two commitments have been made :

1.“Over the next five years, The Hershey Company will expand and accelerate programs to improve cocoa communities by investing $10 million  (Over the next 5 years) in West Africa and continuing to work with experts in agriculture, community development and government to achieve progress with cocoa farmers and their families”.

2. “Later this year, U.S. consumers will be able to purchase Hershey’s Bliss® products with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Rainforest Alliance Certified farms have met comprehensive sustainability standards that protect the environment and ensure the safety and well-being of workers, their families and communities.”

Let me first say that I commend Hershey’s on stepping up as far as they have.  Also, kudos to the NGO’s and people that put pressure on Hershey’s with various campaigns.   What though does this really mean?

So let’s look at commitment #1, the $10 million.  So that is $2 million a year.  If you read the recommendations in the 4th and Final Tulane Report you will see that this isn’t enough.  It really should be closer to $8 million a year per player (as in those that have signed the protocol).  The ICI alone needs $1 million a year for overhead alone so you get the idea.  But $2 million is more than zero.  I will address this later as more unfolds.

Commitment #2- Rain Forest Alliance.   Slave Free Chocolate is VERY pro Fair Trade Certified products.  Also, at this point, it’s the only tool that the consumer can use to vote with their dollar.   Simply, the principle behind the Fair Trade is a movement is to bring farmers and producers out of poverty by paying a higher price for their goods or commodities.  Along with a higher price comes a co-op system where the farmers and producers receive education and help so that they can afford to  fulfill the guidelines. These guidelines include rules of labor practices and in the case of children, the certification programs that align with the ILO convention 182.

Currently,  fair trade products amount to around $6 billion dollars of commodities and goods sold around the world and it is rising about 22% every year.  There are about 500 different fair trade labels.

Fair Trade programs though, don’t have in their infrastructure a program to re-mediate the worst forms of child labor.  Meaning, there are no funds allocated in a fair trade co-op to find trafficked children, get them to authorities and fund their trip back home or to someplace that will take care of them.  Although, ideally fair trade farms get paid more for their beans, it’s not enough of an increase to fund schools and hospitals for those kids working on these farms.  Also, fair trade co-ops provide guidelines for the farmers to better prosper but not to police the farms.

Is the fair trade movement today perfect?  No, nothing is. In fact, there is a lot of squabbling, splits and such going on right now.  The movement, though , is based on good intentions and their problems can and will be ironed out in time. More will be addressed in a different article.

What I want to point out it that buying fair trade beans is one thing, cleaning up the situation is West Africa is another.  Hershey’s soon to be announced Bliss Bar is all fine and dandy but it has nothing to do with getting these trafficked kids back home, getting the kids that fall under the worst forms of child labor back on a healthy track. That is what the $2 million is for and it is about 1/5 of where they need to be.  They know that.  They have copies of the 4th and Final Tulane report.

What we need is a certification program and/or Engel’s original legislation of “No Slavery Here” stamp that chocolate companies use in addition to their fair trade labels. Remember The Hershey Company is only one player in this.  We believe the quickest way to get everyone’s attention is to demand that the wording on EO13126 get’s fixed to included “And its derivative products.”

 

 

 

CNN Freedom Project Series put some attention on the cocoa kids.

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Finally, the US media is giving some attention to this issue.  On Jan. the 20th and 21st. CNN as part of their Freedom Project Series-Ending Modern Day Slavery will air a program illustrating the plight of the children that work in the cocoa fields of The Ivory Coast.  I think even advertising this spot will do wonders.  Here is a link to the story and I hope everyone has a chance to catch this.  CNN Program.

Slave Free Chocolate at Georgetown

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I just got back from doing a lecture at Georgetown U. as part of their Lecture Fund Series.  It went well and now that I have this speech and presentation, I am going on the road with it.  I also had a few meetings on capitol hill where I  met with Harkin’s office, Engel’s office and the head of Africa for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

     Both Harkin’s office and Engel’s office clearly explained that as far as legislation, the public needs to push for the “No Slavery Here” stamp. Continue reading →

Nestlé and the Cynical Use of Certification via Jeff Ballinger

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This is a blog by Jeff Ballinger.  As the Fair Trade movement is the best thing we have to date to count on, it’s not without its problems like everything else.  Here is the article:

Nestlé and the Cynical Use of Certification; “Fair Trade” for Some Tiny Percentage Gives Reputational Boost By Jeff Ballinger

Do we debate Fairtrade (Ft) labeling and marketing in the U.S.?  No, not so much – at least not compared to Britain, where it is something of a blood sport (some links below).  It may be somewhat unfair to lump Ft in with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but that’s the direction in which I’m presently leaning – especially since I started researching issues related to TransFair USA’s imminent launch of a pilot factory standard for clothes. 

Nestlé strategy with Kit Kat – the largest-selling candy bar in the UK – is to spend less than a million dollars annually for a Ft premium to cocoa growers so that all KK’s sold in the UK + Ireland get the Ft logo.  This amount is less than 2% of the advertising budget for Nescafe/UK and, indeed, should be viewed as part of that advertising spending. 

Cocoa strategy, then, closely follows Nestlé behavior vis a vis sourcing ethical coffee (0.2% of total purchases).  Why bother?  There’s an opinion from Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator at Baby Milk Action here: “In evaluating Nestlé’s motives, we shouldn’t forget that the Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, has said that Nestlé should only support charities if it will benefit his shareholders and the reasoning here [Kit Kat] will be the same.”  Many other relevant views expressed here in 2007 BBC magazine story: How fair is Fairtrade?

For comments on a fine opinion piece in the Guardian 10 days ago, see Andrew Chambers’ “Not So Fair Trade.” Just yesterday, Prof. Daniel Jaffee (Washington State University) cleared up what he saw as a misrepresentation of his position – very interesting (& includes this insight: “If TNCs such as Nestlé and Dole are allowed to dabble in fair trade at token proportions of their overall volume – without being held to firm minimum percentage levels and being forced to raise those volumes steadily over time -fair trade runs the risk of serving to sanitize the image of corporations with poor human rights records, of becoming a “fair-washing” device…”)