Every year in Australia and New Zealand we spend millions indulging in one of our favourite pastimes – eating chocolate!  But for many cocoa farmers in the developing world, the reality of the chocolate industry is anything but sweet.

For Fair Trade Fortnight 2006, we invited two representatives from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa cooperative in Ghana to come to Australia and New Zealand to share with consumers here the reality of life on the cocoa farm and why it is so important to them that consumers here choose Fairtrade chocolate.

Agnes Abrafi and Erica Kyere braved the winter chills (the temperature in Ghana rarely falls below 30 degrees) to talk to school and university students, mayors, chocolate producers, church congregations, journalists and campaign groups around Australia and New Zealand, armed with warm coats and a supply of Fairtrade hot chocolate.

For Agnes, who has been a cocoa farmer for 36 year, this was her first taste of chocolate.  Almost all cocoa from Ghana (the world’s second largest producer of cocoa) is exported overseas for processing.  The tiny amount of chocolate that is available in Ghana is far too expensive for cocoa farmers like Agnes – typically cocoa farmers earn just NZ$400 per annum according to Erica, a research and development officer for Kuapa Kokoo, who says that low income levels is the biggest problem facing cocoa farmers in Ghana.  Furthermore, income from cocoa farming is limited to the harvest season and most farmers have limited alternative sources of income during the rest of the year.

 In many villages in West Africa, access to clean water is limited and electricity is rare.  Villagers often spend several hours a day collecting water form the nearest safe water well and waterborne diseases are rife.   While basic education is now compulsory in Ghana, the basic conditions in some of the more remote villages throughout West Africa make it difficult to persuade teachers to work in some of the more remote villages and in other countries in the region, farmer’s children typically have to help with work on the farm, which means many children miss out on education.  According to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, a third of school-aged children living in cocoa producing households in the Ivory Coast have never attended school.

A few years ago, the farmers in Agnes’s village decided to join Kuapa Kokoo, a farmer’s cooperative which sells some cocoa to the Fairtrade market and Agnes talked about the significant improvements in her life and those of other farmers in her village.

Members of the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative typically earn about NZ$600 per annum – 50% more than other cocoa farmers in Ghana.  Kuapa Kokoo is working with farmers to develop alternative income supplies, such as soap making and fabric printing.  Through Kuapa, Agnes has received training to breed grasscutters, a West African rodent whose meat is considered a delicacy in Ghana.  Agnes now has 16 grasscutters and she is able to sell them for cash to supplement her income from cocoa.  Although Agnes herself only ever had access to primary level schooling, the higher income she has received from Fairtrade has meant she could afford to send her daughter to dressmaking school. 

Investing in education has been a priority for the members of Kuapa Kokoo, who have used some of the revenue from Fairtrade to invest in projects such as building schools, educating farmers about fair trade and sending teachers to the more remote villages.

Kuapa Kokoo has also been installing much-needed water wells and toilet facilities in the villages. 

But for Agnes, one of the important benefits has been a sense of empowerment.  Traditionally in West Africa, women rarely hold positions of power, but one of Kuapa’s aims is to enhance the participation of women in decision making throughout the organisation.  Agnes currently holds the elected position of Treasurer in her village society and has also been the village Recorder – probably the most powerful position within a Kuapa Kokoo village society.  She has been instrumental in organising the women in her community to supplement their incomes by farming corn and cassava. 

Here in Australia and New Zealand, Agnes recognised the important role that she and Erica were playing in raising public awareness about Fairtrade chocolate – audiences at every venue exceeded expectations in both size and enthusiasm and the extensive media coverage of their visit has ensured their message has reached hundreds of thousands of consumers.  Agnes has gone back to Ghana inspired and determined to organise the women in her village to secure even more improvements in their lives.  “I know now that together we women can do anything.”

The following brands of Fairtrade certified chocolate are currently available in New Zealand from Trade Aid shops and specialist healthfood shops: Cocolo, Trade Aid and Green& Blacks