Blue People Fair Trade

Chocolate giant, UK based Cadbury, says that its Dairy Milk Bar, sold in the millions worldwide, will be Fair trade certified by 2010. It will be sold in supermarkets, gas stations and convenience stores in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The move will quadruple the amount of fair trade cocoa bought from Ghana under sustainable farming schemes and help end child labor and trafficking. Approximately 40,000 Ghanian farmers will benefit immediately. The Cadbury partnership with the  Fairtrade Foundation has already resulted in 50o,000 GBP being transferred to Ghana, the first installment of the Fairtrade Social Premium. This is part of Cadbury’s overall investment into cocoa sustainability through the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership.

Mr. P. K. Tekper, the Vice-President of Kuapa Kokoo, a cocoa farmers’ co-operative, concluded:

“We are very happy that Cadbury’s have made this further commitment. The premium that we have already received from Cadbury has made a real difference to our lives. Our plans for the future are to build fourteen community projects next year, invest in the health care of our farmers and to put in place a ‘Kuapa Kokoo Extension Services’ to farmers to ensure sustainability of cocoa in the world market.”

Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade is part of Cadbury’s broader commitment to develop a sustainable business strategy to empower farmers to invest in their land and their communities. Through the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership (CCP), Cadbury is investing 45 million GBP over the next ten years to secure sustainable cocoa farming in Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean where the cocoa farming industry is facing increasing challenges. So far, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership model with charities and NGOs on the ground in Ghana has achieved the following:

• A Ghana board has been set up with power to make CCP decisions there and includes partners at grass roots level who know and understand their communities’ needs
• Through grass roots partnerships with Care, VSO and World Vision, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership is now active in 100 Ghanaian communities

Francis Sampson Kwesi, a 48 year old cocoa farmer from the Ghanaian village of Kromameng, one of those involved in the Cocoa Partnership and now hoping to gain Fairtrade certification, added:

“One of the main benefits is that I can invest the proceeds out of the cocoa in things such as the upkeep of the children’s school fees, as well as in developments for the whole community, such as building roads. It helps us to have a higher standard of living, as although the land here [in Ghana] is good for cocoa growing, when we are not in the season of cocoa, we need everything else to help make the environment more conducive for cocoa growing.”

Cadbury estimates that by 2018, through today’s announcements and the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, it will have made a demonstrable difference to the lives of around half a million farmers in Cadbury’s cocoa markets.

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