Global nonprofit impact investor Acumen has launched a
Valentine’s Day campaign urging chocolate lovers to “Make a #Cocoamitment” by
choosing chocolate brands that support fair wages for cocoa farmers.
The Cocoamitment campaign invites consumers to think twice when choosing their
chocolate and shares tips on terms for buyers to keep in mind — such as
“Bean-to-bar,” “Tree-to-bar,” “Farmer-owned,” “Direct trade,”
“Single origin” or “Price premium” — that identify ethically sourced
chocolate.
While the global chocolate industry is valued at nearly $120 billion, many
cacao farmers live in extreme poverty in climate-vulnerable areas — typically
earning less than $2.15 per day. Not only is that drastically below a living
wage,
it leaves them unable to adapt to climate-fueled drought, pests, crop diseases,
increased temperatures and extreme weather events that increasingly threaten
cacao crop yields.
With worldwide chocolate consumption projected to reach 7.5 million tons in
2024 — an
average of almost two pounds per person for the year — the citizens of the world
are arguably invested in the long-term availability of the sweet
treat.
“Cocoa farmer pay is inextricably linked to the cocoa crisis,” said Alexandra
Gordon, Chief
Communications and Marketing Officer at Acumen — founded in 2001 by best-selling
author Jacqueline Novogratz
on the idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the
cycle of poverty. “Valentine’s Day is a key moment for the chocolate industry,
so we want to encourage consumers to make more conscious choices. This campaign
highlights some of the cocoa companies we invest in that are creating a fairer
future for farmers.”
Acumen’s Cocoamitment builds on campaigns including Fairtrade America’s annual
murals
campaign,
which celebrates the growers behind ethical chocolate and tea brands to remind
the public to support brands that pay farmers fairly, and Be Slavery Free’s
annual Chocolate
Scorecard
— which evaluates chocolate makers on social and environmental criteria, and
provides valuable information for consumers to make ethical purchasing
decisions. The future of chocolate depends on supply chain changes that ensure
smallholder cocoa
farmers
earn decent wages and can afford to adapt to climate change — which is wreaking increasing havoc on cocoa production around the world.
With chocolate sales expected to skyrocket this February — and again for
Easter
in April — Acumen’s Cocoamitment campaign aims to shine a spotlight on the
farmers that grow the cacao that make up our chocolate bars and the ethical
companies ensuring farmers are paid fairly.
For example, Beyond Good — an investee of Acumen’s
Resilient Agriculture
Fund (ARAF) —
has a direct-sourcing
model
that removes middlemen and allows farmers to earn a thriving wage through
sustainable farming practices. The over 900 farmers Beyond Good partners with in
Madagascar and Uganda earn five to six times more than if they sold
their cocoa through conventional trading.
Other brands featured in the campaign include:
-
Cacao Hunters — another ARAF investee —
is the first Colombian company to locally source and produce premium
chocolate in the region. By working with farmer cooperatives and providing
technical assistance and environmental training, Cacao Hunters enables cacao
farmers to improve the quality and productivity of their yields.
-
Buyers of Acumen investee Uncommon Cacao —
an initiative that connects smallholder organic cacao farmers to specialty
chocolate makers through direct, transparent relationships — including
Ethereal Confections, Fruition
Chocolate Works, Markham &
Fitz and Spinnaker
Chocolate.
“We believe consumers hold a lot of power when it comes to valuing traceability
and quality in cocoa and chocolate—just as they did with
coffee,”
said Cacao Hunters co-founder
Carlos Velasco. “While
chocolate lags behind, consumer demand for quality can drive the industry
forward.”
For more information about the Cocoamitment campaign, including a list of
participating brands and where to buy them, visit
thework.acumen.org/cocoamitment.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jan 31, 2025 2pm EST / 11am PST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET