Press Release 2015
Cocoa Barometer. Amsterdam, 6 March 2015
Extreme poverty is the
norm for West African cocoa farmers. At the same time, the cocoa supply chain
is increasingly dominated by a select group of large corporations. Current
initiatives and programmes are not sufficient to tackle the challenges that cocoa
farming is facing. A more fundamental reform of the sector is needed. These are
some of the core conclusions of the 2015 Cocoa Barometer, an initiative of the
main European civil society organisations involved in sustainable cocoa
production.
Core problem not
addressed
“Despite all the
efforts in cocoa at the moment, the core of the problem is still not being
addressed; the extreme poverty of cocoa farmers, and their lack of a voice in
the debate,” said Antonie Fountain, co-author of the Barometer. In that light,
the 2015 Cocoa Barometer focuses on value distribution in the supply chain, and
on the actual income of cocoa farmers. This is the first time such a study has
been conducted. To stimulate discussion on these vital topics, all of the
underlying data and research will be made publicly available.
Low income for cocoa
farmers
West African cocoa
farmers live well below globally defined poverty levels. In Côte d’Ivoire – the
world’s largest producer of cocoa – a farmer should earn four times his current
income in order to reach the global poverty line of $2 a day. To achieve a
level sufficient to cover basic needs (a living income), this would probably
need to be a lot higher.
Cocoa not an attractive future
The lack of a decent
livelihood for cocoa farmers leads to bad labour circumstances, human rights
violations, and many other problems in the cocoa supply chain, including child
labour. Cocoa no longer offers an attractive future. Increasingly, younger
generations of cocoa farmers are leaving cocoa, and older farmers are nearing
the age of life expectancy.
Too much market
concentration
An unfair distribution
of value and power in the cocoa chain are part of the root causes of extreme
poverty for cocoa farmers. Mergers and takeovers have resulted in just a few
companies dominating up to 80%of the whole value chain, while farmers lack a
sufficiently organised voice to be strong actors. Particularly chocolate
manufacturers (such as Mars, Nestlé, Ferrero and Mondelēz), processors (such as
Barry Callebaut and Cargill), and retailers gain a lot in comparison to the
other stakeholders.
Certified chocolate on
the increase
Certified chocolate
production continues to increase globally, from 2% reported in the first
Barometer in 2009, to almost 16% of global chocolate sales in the 2015 Cocoa
Barometer. Most major companies (with the exception of Mondelēz and Nestlé) now
have committed to full certification or verification by 2020. However, with the
mainstreaming of certification, the challenges of certification are also
increasing. Improvements in certification are needed, especially concerning
impact on the ground, the quality of auditing, and unrest among farmers about
low payments of premiums.
Current approaches
won’t solve the problem
While most of the
sustainability efforts focus on increasing a farmer’s productivity, this
approach alone will not solve the problem. Yields do need to rise, but
increasing farmers’ productivity must be coupled with an increased cocoa price
for farmers. This means that chocolate needs to become more expensive. Crop
diversification, tenure security, better infrastructure and access to
information for farmers are also needed.
Shared responsibility
All of the players in
the cocoa value chain need to step up to the plate. Companies, governments,
retailers, as well as consumers should take their shared responsibility, and
truly start looking for new approaches to some of these longstanding problems. Fountain’s
conclusion: “Unless the cocoa sector fundamentally changes, there will be no
future cocoa farmers.”
Recommendations:
1. Develop a living
income model for smallholder cocoa farming
2. Address the
price-setting mechanisms in order to increase prices at farm-gate level
3. Move from voluntary
to mandatory sector-wide solutions
http://cocoabarometer.org/
* The Cocoa Barometers
are semi-annual overviews of the state of sustainability of the cocoa sector,
and are published by a European consortium of civil society actors; FNV Mondiaal
(NL), Hivos (NL), Solidaridad (NL) and the VOICE Network – ABVV/Horval (BE),
Berne Declaration (CH), FNV (NL), Oxfam Novib (NL), Oxfam Wereldwinkels (BE),
Stop the Traffik (UK), and the Südwind Institut (GE).
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