I found this interesting article on Fortune magazine's website:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/chocolate_bittersweet.fortune/index.htm
This is an age-old dilemma when an industry goes through middlemen in a foreign country.
The issue is child labor in picking cocoa pods. As you will read in the article, very young children are for collectiong the cocoa pods that will be used to create our favorite chocolate creations. The article stated that:
This type of child labor isn't supposed to exist in Ivory Coast. Not only is it explicitly barred by law - the official working age in the country is 18 - but since the issue first became public seven years ago, there has been an international campaign by the chocolate industry, governments and human rights organizations to eradicate the problem
In addition, the article highlights the big cocoa exporters of: Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Barry Callebaut and Saf-Cacao for not doing enough. They acknowledge that these big exporters do not own plantations and do not directly employ child workers. However, they do buy the beans from middlemen. For the most part, small farmers grow the crops for the "large" chocolate companies such as Hershey's. Those concerned about the plight of the children have said that these big companies have an responsiblity to improve working conditions. However, these big companies claim that they are "out of the loop". What do you think? Should these companies be involved in the human rights issues in the Ivory Coast? What could companies do to improve the working conditions on these farms?
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3 comments:
Thank you for raising this topic.
I work in the Marketing Dept at an organic, Fair Trade co-operative, Equal Exchange, that imports and sell cocoa, chocolate as well as coffee & tea. We don't think there is a dilemma. To the contrary we think that we clearly have a responsibility to use our buying power as an importer to push the cocoa industry in a more responsible direction. This is a direct parallel to the movement in the UK (& elsewhere) to not buy cotton that was grown on slave plantations in the U.S., and to the more recent boycotts of "conflict" or "blood" diamonds from Africa.
Increasingly (albeit very belatedly) the cocoa/chocolate industry is coming to acknowledge this responsibility. However, as they do this they typically cite some program or company initiative that upon close inspection falls very short of addressing the problem.
You may want to check out our summary of the situation at this link.
From reading this article, it seems like the companies that are buying the coco beans have some responsibility. It is very hard to regulate these kinds of matters because these farmers are so secluded and they buy from a middleman. What seems to be the real problem with these “children workers” (many of whom work for their parents or neighbors or do it to help feed their family) is the fact that the economy in the Ivory Coast is in shambles. Their economic status has caused wide scale corruption on many different levels. The only way that these companies could really do something is if they bought direct from the farmers. That way the farmers will see more money and thus not need to hire or use children workers.
I find it hard to believe that a company like Hershey's, with all the revenue they make annually and how popular they are GLOBALLY, is not fully aware of where the number one ingredient for their product comes from and how it is acquired. Sure we can make the Ivory Cost goverment sign all the waivers and contracts that the chocolate factories want but until some consequences for their actions are shown, the middleman is not going to take verbal threats seriously. I mean this is a goverment that is "happier making excuses rather than changes".
I think it should be the complete responsibility of the Chocolate company to know where the product come from and ensure their consumers that nobody was harmed in the making of their product. Companies should be strict and stern about their policies, spend a little more time and money investigating and actually terminating contract with the middlemen if they find evidence of child labor or poor working conditions.
Also, consumers should be aware of the growing problem that exists in acquiring the cocoa; similar to the awareness that was raised with diamonds and coffee beans.
It goes hand in hand,Companies should know the product they are selling and consumers should know the product their buying.
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