Causes.com
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The Human and Economic Costs of Big Chocolate
Will you think twice about dessert?
What's the story?
- An Oxfam report found that chocolate corporations' sustainability programs are failing to deliver on promises to protect the environment and pay farmers a living wage.
Corporate profits: The big picture
- The world's four largest public chocolate corporations — Hershey, Lindt, Mondelēz, and Nestlé — made nearly $15 billion in profits from their confectionary divisions, up 16% since 2020.
- The big four paid out more than their total net profits (113%) to shareholders between 2020 and 2022.
- The families who own Mars and Ferrero, the two biggest private chocolate corporations, have seen their fortunes rise by $39 billion since 2020. They currently have a combined net worth of approximately $157 billion.
Workers stuck in poverty
- Oxfam surveyed over 400 Ghanaian cocoa farmers who supply the big name brands and found that during that same time period, their incomes fell by an average of 16%. Women's incomes fell by 22%.
- Out of 800,000 chocolate farmers, 90% live under the poverty line and said they were doing measurably worse after the pandemic.
- Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce 70% of the world's cocoa beans while bearing the human and environmental costs of the industry.
- There have been reports of farmers using child labor to reduce costs and remain competitive. Children are sold by traffickers to cocoa farmers or even kidnapped from poor villages. The Supreme Court case Nestlé USA and Cargill v. Doe shed light on six plaintiffs' plight: they were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast as children and forced to labor on cocoa farms. The Court ruled in favor of the chocolate corporations.
- Amitabh Behar of Oxfam said:
"There's big money in chocolate —but definitely not for farmers. Cocoa farmers work extremely hard, under grueling conditions, yet can't always feed their families."
Environmental impacts
- It is estimated that 70% of the illegal deforestation in the Ivory Coast is due to cocoa farming. Less than 4% of the country remains covered in rainforest.
- An investigation by Mighty Earth found that some of the biggest names in chocolate knowingly purchase cocoa grown in illegally deforested national parks in West Africa.
- In the Ivory Coast, only 100-400 elephants remain from a previous population numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Unfulfilled promises
- In 2017, Hershey vowed to source 100% certified sustainable cocoa by 2020, a promise that was not fulfilled.
- Oxfam found that none of the sustainability programs of the 10 manufacturers they analyzed had achieved their goal of increasing cocoa production and, in tandem, boosting farmer income.
- They found that the small premiums paid to farmers on top of their selling price did not make any meaningful dent in the farmers' low incomes.
- Chocolate corporations make vague promises about ending child labor and promoting the environment. In 2001, major companies signed a deal called the Harkin-Engel Protocol, pledging to end "the worst forms of child labor" in the supply chain. They missed the deadline three times before reducing the scope of their goals.
- Behar said:
"[Chocolate giants] must rid themselves of their colonial legacy of extracting raw materials and keeping farmers in poverty while making astronomical profits for their rich shareholders. Without fair pricing and living incomes there will never be such a thing as 'sustainable' or 'exploitation-free' chocolate."
Will you think twice about dessert?
—Emma Kansiz
(Photo credit: iStock/ALEAIMAGE)
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Already do as there is not much about most desserts that are healthy. They are best eliminate for health reasons which also helps the unfair business practices occurring.
"Western African countries, mostly Ghana and the Ivory Coast, supply about 70% of the world’s cocoa"
"organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa."
"evidence has also surfaced of both child labor and slavery on cocoa farms in Brazil."
"the chocolate industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human rights violations still occur, but to then disseminate this information to the public."
"Child labor has been found on cocoa farms in Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone"
https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/
I don't think about dessert for this reason, no, but I guess I could.
I am shocked at how awfully cocoa farmers are treated, although not surprised. It's just another example of corporate greed over the needs of real people.
I support global action to reign in abuses of farmers such as cocoa farmers, and think "big chocolate" and other large corporations should pay for it.
President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana gave a speech a few years ago about only 6% of the population pays taxes.
He also made school free which open other nations to come to Ghana so their children will receive an education. In the North part of Ghana children were receiving education for free for years. This did boost more students to pursue higher education, so free school was a huge benefit. North Ghana has a high percentage of professional.
My cousin was a cohost on a podcast years ago called Code Break Africa. The podcast discussed businesses specifically in Ghana (sometimes they did discussed business in other countries on the continent of Africa). I remember listening to one podcast about purchasing products made in their country. Most people want products from Europe or USA.
African countries are rich in resources. They need to do a better job of investing in their countries.
They are supplying cocoa and the world is demanding it. Yet, they are barely making an income to feed their family.
Children are being used as cheap labor whether they want to work or not.
Prime examples on why we need to continue teaching about history and finance (starting at elementary school).
We need child labor laws.
Just more proof that corporate greed leads to abuse of capitalism and its free market place and needs to be regulated severely. And while they are at it they can close all the tax loopholes that allow for lower to zero taxes paid into the system. Capitalism has its place, but GREED does not. Pity they cannot see to the success of the farmers they are abusing that is destroying the product that makes them money. We seem to have turned into a "my way or the highway" society. ME! ME! ME!, "F" YOU, ME and ALL MINE."
Causes asked, "Will you think twice about dessert?"
No. I rarely have dessert.
Regarding chocolate, there are few personal things for me to do, evidently.
When I do buy chocolate I get dark chocolate, supposedly better for one's health than milk chocolate, I look for the "Fair Trade" designation.
Evidently "Fair Trade" is not all it's supposed to be. Not too surprising in the scheme of things.
I hope Congress can one day help with the issue.
YES!!!! I'll boycott chocolate and in the process help my waistline.
Corporations who commit climate suicide for profits are to be held liable for their actions
Always try to keep locally sourced perishables on the menu.
I will immediately swear off chocolate and it has little to do with the extra 20 lbs. I have and that I am an admitted chocoholic.
My chocolate consumption is way down ahyway.
I had to stop ordering restaurant desserts when I was diagnosed a few years ago with diabetes. My under-performing pancreas is finally part of the solution!
I will now, as I was unaware of this before. I can always make a homemade cheesecake for dessert and stop buying chocolate. I had already planned not to participate in Halloween this years...so this simply cements that decision.
My wife and I no longer nibble on chocolate in any edible form. We have been aware of the nefarious actions of these companies. We lease land to the farmers so we certainly can empathize with them.