In a recent webinar, representatives from throughout the Fairtrade ecosystem, along with partners Lidl and Tony’s Chocolonely, discussed how the NGO and its partner brands are working to finally make cocoa farming sustainable for producers.
Arguably one of the biggest challenges facing brands is how to make the climate
transition a fair and just one. This is especially true for supply chains that
face endemic problems such as those in the cocoa industry, where farmer poverty
has traditionally driven socially and environmentally harmful practices.
The majority of cocoa is produced in two regions in West Africa — Côte
d'Ivoire and Ghana — where farming of the crop has resulted in significant
deforestation over the years. According to Ceres’ Engage the
Chain, two-thirds of African cocoa farmers
live below the poverty line, with few earning a living
income.
Malnutrition is rife, many producers engage in child labor, and a lack of
sustainable farming practices has left many communities vulnerable to climate
change.
Against this backdrop, Fairtrade International (with
headquarters in 30 countries) is working to give cocoa farmers a
fairer future — not just by providing essential training and support to farming
co-operatives and organizations to help them become successful businesses, but
by pushing the chocolate sector to address the challenges that threaten the
long-term sustainability of cocoa.
Speaking at a recent webinar, Cécile Henrard, senior business development
manager at Fairtrade Belgium — highlighted that the NGO now represents 1.9
million producers and workers worldwide and works with more than 2,500
companies. In 2020, 394 farmer organizations — representing over 440,000
small-scale farmers — held a certificate to produce and sell Fairtrade cocoa.
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“Fairtrade is increasingly relevant; we are no longer niche,” she said. “Over
the last few years, we have also seen that within the cocoa market, there have
been big initiatives to make the cocoa supply chain more sustainable.”
Fairtrade International’s Living Incomes
Campaign,
launched in 2019, is one initiative that is making a difference where it is
needed most — at farm level. Increasingly companies are building off of
Fairtrade’s framework to pilot new living income initiatives.
To date, the companies Fairtrade works with have collectively generated $200.8m
of Fairtrade Premium for cocoa-farming co-operatives to spend on projects of
their choice that benefit their businesses and communities.
According to Anne-Marie Yao, regional cocoa manager for Fairtrade
Africa, the Fairtrade Premium is one of the things that sets the NGO apart
from other certification
schemes.
On top of the price farmers and workers receive for their produce or labor, they
receive an extra sum of money to invest in improving the quality of their lives.
This enables, for example, more women and young people to have an education and
engage in income diversification.
She points out, however, that there is much work still to do — as many producers
still don’t have the protection that Fairtrade offers. “When farmers already
struggle to afford essentials like nutritious food, healthcare, children’s
schooling due to the low price they get for their crops … How can we expect them
to meet the costs of investing in clean energy or planting trees, or cutting
on-farm emissions?”
Lidl
and Tony’s
Chocolonely
are two companies that are working closely with Fairtrade to scale up the NGO’s
work. This hasn’t been without its challenges. Philippe Weiler, head of
sustainability at Lidl, spoke of how when he joined the retailer’s Belgian
operations in 2016, he was told by his buying director that Fairtrade products
weren’t selling well in-store. But he soon turned that around.
“Lidl is a discounter with a limited number of products, so every single product
needs to have a high turnover,” he said.
The NGO was invited to Lidl’s offices to brainstorm some possible marketing
solutions; but all were in vain until the retailer realized that, as long as
discount-store customers were given the choice of buying a more sustainable, but
expensive, product against a cheaper less sustainable one, most would opt for
the less expensive item.
“That’s when we came to the conclusion that if we really want to make
sustainable choice part of our habit, then we have to radically change – and
that meant not giving the choice anymore to the customer,” Weiler said.
“Instead, we decided, let’s try to make our full product range 100 percent
sustainable. And that’s what we did.”
As part of this push, last year Lidl launched its own-brand Way to
Go!
Fairtrade chocolate bar, which guarantees cocoa farmers in Ghana both the
Fairtrade Minimum Price for cocoa and the Fairtrade Premium. Weiler says Lidl is
now the biggest contributor to Fairtrade in absolute terms when it comes to the
highest volumes sold of Fairtrade products in the Belgian market.
“Even if you are a discounter, it is possible to break the rules,” he said,
adding that solving big sustainability challenges requires more than small,
incremental steps. “It needs to be something transformational, that breaks with
the tradition. And to do that you need strong collaboration; you need to have
all the relevant stakeholders around the table.”
Meanwhile, Tony’s Chocolonely’s relationship with Fairtrade stretches back more
than 15 years. The confectionery firm’s mission is to make 100 percent slave
free the norm in chocolate; and for the company’s head of impact, Paul
Schoenmakers, certification alone won’t get the chocolate sector there.
“It’s a very important pre-requisite; but in the end companies have a
responsibility for their supply
chain,
and they cannot just outsource that with a certificate,” he said.
In recent years, Tony’s has been working with the NGO on a
model
that will enable cocoa farmers to have a living income. A key output of this is
Fairtrade’s Living Income Reference
Price.
“It’s a new benchmark we’ve set with Fairtrade in the cocoa industry and a great
example of how working together can accelerate change,” Schoenmakers maintained.
Rightly pointing out that chocolate is a luxury product, Schoenmakers believes
the cocoa industry is a rich one with enough money in the value chain to make
sustainable and fair production the default choice going forward.
“There is absolutely no excuse for the child or forced labor, or deforestation
in chocolate — all of that is solvable. We set a new norm and showed it is
possible to buy cocoa in a different way and also be a successful, fast-growing
company,” he said. “As long as doing the right thing is optional and companies
have the choice to put profits over human rights, then a lot of companies will
do that. We need to change that.”
Published Nov 11, 2021 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET
Maxine Perella is an environmental journalist working in the field of corporate sustainability, circular economy and resource risk.
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