Future of Chocolate
Picture source: https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/17890-cocoa-bean-futures-seen-down-6-by-yearend
It was the industrial revolution and advertisement of chocolate that changed who had access and how we consume chocolate but it was the late 20th and now 21st century. Where people are becoming more aware of the production of chocolate. When chocolate became more accessible, they never really thought about where the cacao to make the chocolate came from, or whether the people growing it were making a living, or if no slave labor was used, or how it was affecting the planet. People are now becoming more aware of the production of cacao and how it affects not only people but the planet. Consumers have the right to know where the thing they eat comes from.
People eat chocolate all the time and don’t think about where the cacao used for the chocolate came from. They don’t realize that there is any kind of enslaved or abusive labor being used such as child labor.
People don’t know about the affects the production of cacao has on the planet. Cacao is a plant that can only be grown in certain places and is a difficult plant to care for. As cacao production increases, new plantations need to be created and these tend to be established in forest areas leading to deforestation. When compared to other plants that can cause deforestation, cacao doesn’t seem like it has as big an impact on the planet. Cacao, in 2014, accounted for about 0.7 percent of global land use footprint in comparison to the 1.5 percent footprint left by other crops of international trade. However, this isn’t the case for the countries that are growing cacao. Cacao production between 1988 and 2008 is estimated to have caused the deforestation of about two to three million hectares. In just Ghana and the Ivory Coast, it is estimated that cacao caused about a fourth of the deforestation in the area. Cacao's impact on these countries wouldn’t be so bad if it weren't for the fact that these places are really the only places in which cacao can be grown. The continued deforestation to grow cacao needs to be put at a stop because not only does it affect the country's growing cacao but affects the world because forests are important in keeping carbon dioxide levels down which is the big cause of climate change.
The chocolate industry has tried to fix problem with the production of cacao by creating programs that will help cacao farmers make a better living without having to use slave labor and having a great affect on the planet. Programs like Fairtrade, free trade, and direct trade try to guarantees that farmers get paid a minimum amount for their cacao beans, make sure that child labor isn’t used in the production, and be able to track the cacao from the farmer to the chocolate maker. Fairtrade is a program that guarantees that cacao is sold at a minimum price, as well as no child labor is used in cacao farming, but in order to receive this minimum price they have to have the fairtrade certificate. It puts a middle man between the cacao farmer and chocolate maker that regulates the prices and the money made from the programs goes to benefit farmers to gain access to things such as clean water. Free trade is when the government doesn't have any influence on the selling and purchasing price of an item. While direct trade is where there is no middle man between the cacao farm and the chocolate maker. It is when the chocolate maker buys cacao straight from the farmer.
These three different methods of trade are likely the future of chocolate with the goal of guaranteeing better practices when it comes to the production of cacao and chocolate. The production of cacao needs to change so that people can are able to produce it but also making a living, as well as make sure that no kind of slavery is used in it’s production. It’s not just the producers of cacao that need to make change but the companies that are turning cacao into chocolate that need to change as well. Chocolate consumers are becoming more aware of where it’s being produced, putting pressure on these companies and producers to do more to make the chocolate industry a safe place so people can continue to feel comfortable eating these chocolates. Chocolate companies need to show effort that they are committed to making these changes instead of just saying they’re going to make changes because every promise that has been made so far hasn’t been accomplished and they keep pushing back deadlines to meet these promises.
Bibliography
Lecture 8
Leissle, Kristy. Cocoa. Polity, 2018
The Global Appetite for Chocolate Threatens West Africa, which Supplies most of the world’s Cocoa.
A Decade After Mars and Other Chocolate Makers Vowed to Stop Rampant Deforestation, the Problem
has Gotten Worse." WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post.
Ryan, Órla. Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa. Zed Books, 2012.
