We often hear about fair trade practices from chocolate companies’ perspective. While interesting, it’s even better to hear directly from the cacao farmers who are committed to fair trade practice and high-quality chocolate products. By forming fair trade cooperatives, farmers’ communities benefit from social, economic and environmental advancements.
“In 1992 the farmers got together and decided to see if we could get Fairtrade accreditation and also accreditation from the Soil Association, so farmers could receive a fair price for their crop,” explains Peck. “We achieved this, and now we are paid around $3,500 per metric tonne on the global market. Without Fairtrade this would probably be more like $2,000.”
For the local farmers the difference in income has allowed them to attend to other issues that would previously have been eclipsed by the necessity of financial survival. “Now the farmers have a little bit more which they can use to send their children to school, and make an improvement in their future,” he explains. “The association has also been able to put aside a little money for several projects. This year we have supported nine children through high school, and we also allocate funds to social, economic and environmental development.”
Fair from every point of view
Fair from every point of view
From growers, to retailers, to consumers – discover how 15 years of the Fairtrade mark have affected those involved
Toledo Cacao Growers Association’s Justino Peck Photograph: Zed Nelson/PR
Justino Peck is chairman of Toledo Cacao Growers Association, a farmers’ cooperative in southern Belize. For him, 15 years of Fairtrade has meant the chance to educate a community and improve conditions for cocoa growers and their children.
“Having Fairtrade has made things better for us cocoa growers” says Peck. “The impact has been to help us reach and trade with an international market and set a fair price for our products.”
Life for farmers in the region has been one of mixed blessings where cocoa production is concerned, and it is only relatively recently that commercial production has begun in earnest. “Before the 1970s, farmers might have had a few trees either on their farmland or in their gardens, which they grew only to supply the local market,” explains Peck. “Then Hershey came and offered to buy cocoa if farmers chose to grow it on a commercial scale. Before this the only cocoa that grew in the region was farmed by our ancestors.”
In ancient times, low-born Mayans and Aztecs had to carry their prized crop to appease the nation’s royalty and, until recently, some might argue little had changed between this dynamic and the one stipulated by global chocolate giants.
In 1991 the market crashed, and those who had just begun the five-year journey to grow the mature trees were left without enough income to survive. Several, however, chose to band together and formulate a way to make cocoa sale viable.
“In 1992 the farmers got together and decided to see if we could get Fairtrade accreditation and also accreditation from the Soil Association, so farmers could receive a fair price for their crop,” explains Peck. “We achieved this, and now we are paid around $3,500 per metric tonne on the global market. Without Fairtrade this would probably be more like $2,000.”
For the local farmers the difference in income has allowed them to attend to other issues that would previously have been eclipsed by the necessity of financial survival. “Now the farmers have a little bit more which they can use to send their children to school, and make an improvement in their future,” he explains. “The association has also been able to put aside a little money for several projects. This year we have supported nine children through high school, and we also allocate funds to social, economic and environmental development.”
This interesting event has been held by Global Exchange, putting grassroots pressure on international companies that purchase cocoa. They distribute information on fair trade chocolate to parents and school groups across the United States and Canada. In addition, participants go “reverse trick or treating” on Halloween where instead of accepting candy, trick or treaters distribute fair trade chocolate to each home.
