As I stood in the middle of Augustine’s farm in the jungles of Cote D’Ivoire, I reflected on the differences at either end of the cocoa supply chain. Visiting Mars’ factory in Slough I had seen the high tech production line delivering thousands of Mars bars, for the first time using cocoa from the new Fairtrade Sourcing Program. Here I saw a hard manual job, with farmers tending and harvesting their crops in ill-defined fields, growing cocoa within the jungle that surrounds them.
My second thought was the distance involved. Having driven several miles out of the nearest village we stopped by the side of the road, crossing a ditch into the undergrowth. After walking several minutes and removing several wee beasties that dropped off the leaves down my back for a bite as I brushed past them (tip: do up your top button), I met Augustine, a farmer who had bought his two hectares off the land owner several years earlier, and was in the midst of harvest.
Augustine told me about his farm and his plans to build a big house for all his family to live together, and for his child to continue school. He went on to say that due to the late rains (as reported by The Times and almost every farmer we met) the harvest would be down this year as the pods had not grown as much as usual. Afterwards Jacques Aboule, the Fairtrade liaison officer, suggested it may be down as much as a third on previous years.
The initial stages involve gathering the harvest before the pods are broken open, thenthe beans are left to ferment and dry. The breaking open is done with nearby farmers assisting, an action they all do for each other in order to get the job done. Then it’s a question of getting all the cocoa to the central cooperative where the beans will be tested (they must be 8% humidity or below or else they will spoil before they can be used) and where the farmers will be paid for their produce. At that point the cocoa beans will be dried further if necessary and bagged before going off to Abidjan for shipping.
The life of a cocoa farmer is often a financially precarious one. Though demand for the end product is high, the rewards for initial growing are limited. There is a main harvest then a smaller one soon after. These are the opportunities for the farmer to be paid. The process of cultivating cocoa is a manual one that requires much initial investment and care before the trees start delivering any return, normally 3-5 years. After this time the cocoa plants will deliver their peak yields before declining after around 20 years. Demand for cocoa is predicted to increase, particularly in emerging markets. This should be good news for farmers if they can deliver, though to be sustainable it’s not simply a case of planting more trees or improving harvest, it’s also about price and many other factors, not least in the communities.
As I met with and heard from farmers involved in the Fairtrade supply chain I was encouraged to see how our mission compliments the aims of big firms like Nestle and Mars. To use the example of Nestle’s Cocoa Plan programme, the young trees and fertilisers being given to farmers to improve their yields are benefiting from the knowledge and expertise of Fairtrade’s liaison officers on the ground. Each coop we went to spoke of how Fairtrade’s unique offer of supplying an accessible cocoa expert makes an impact by sharing knowledge, providing training and generally assisting with any issues that may arise. Our liaison officer, Jacques Aboule, was highly regarded by all the farmers we met, all using the opportunity to get a few words of advice or news from him.
Before I went I had heard much of the problems facing farmers - low prices for cocoa, ageing trees and ageing farmers as their children look for alternatives instead of following in their father’s footsteps.
Here I heard mainly of their hopes for the future. Farmers talked of their aspirations for their children, thanks in part to the increased access they were getting to education. I went to see new schools being built using the Fairtrade premium, schools that would be given to the government who would in return provide teachers. I heard about how Fairtrade initiatives such as gender rights and child protection were helping farmers, their families and communities. Simple measures such as mobile phones and the purchase of several motorbikes were transforming working practices, not least by allowing training to take place in the fields and knowledge to be shared effectively.
For me it was good to hear almost the same thing from each cooperative - that Fairtrade was a choice they had made, not one that was forced upon them, and that the premium gave them the freedom to make the decisions important to them, not someone further up the supply chain.
There are problems with cocoa production and they aren’t easy to fix, and can’t be done in isolation. There are roles for all to play, from Fairtrade to the companies that rely on the cocoa, the government and the communities themselves. But I saw communities eagerly working to tackle these issues, and through the work of all they are within reach.
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