The secret to slave-free chocolate is societal change in West Africa
The Craftory invests in progressive CPG brands. Original photograph by Rodrigo Flores on Unsplash
Chocolate is perhaps the sweetest of all treats. But the truth about the production of our favourite candy is a little harder to swallow. Often considered something sensual or a luxurious treat, chocolate has established itself amongst the happy rituals of modern-day life, yet the position it holds in our culture conceals an ingrained acceptance of slavery and child labour deep in the supply chain.
We all want slave-free chocolate but the awkward truth is there simply isn't enough to go around. Any brand trying to transform this category must tackle the problem of slavery and child labour at its cultural roots...
A bitter background
Cocoa beans are difficult and time-consuming to cultivate on a large scale and they can only grow in equatorial climates. The plantations and imported slave labour that first supported the cocoa industry were based in Central and South America, however, the increased demand for chocolate in Europe in the 19th century, meant that instead of shipping African slaves across the Atlantic cocoa production shifted to Western Africa, the epicentre of African slavery.
Today, multinational chocolate makers are more heavily dependent on this region than ever. Over 70% of the world’s cocoa is currently grown in West Africa, with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire producing 60% alone (*1). The farms of Western Africa that supply cocoa to the likes of Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé today, are still dominated by slave and child labour. We are beginning to wake up to the fact the the chocolate industry is directly connected to some of the worst forms modern-day human rights infringements. The fact that less than 30% of the chocolate available is slave-free exposes an undeniable correlation between the market value of this industry and slavery.
Original photograph: Pablo Merchán Montes
How did we get here?
According to the latest figures, there are more slaves today than at any other time in our history. Despite forced labour being illegal in every country in the world, an estimated 40.3 million people are said to be living in some form of modern slavery, that’s more than three times the number during the peak of the transatlantic slave trade. Why slavery has remained a persistent part of West African culture is still a live discussion, but there are certain cultural factors that contribute to its prevalence.
Colonial legacy
Once anti-slave trade legislation had shut down Atlantic slave exports to the Americas in the late 18th century, Africa saw a rise in commodity exports. The establishment of colonial control over Africa (c. 1880-1900) facilitated investment in infrastructure and institutions in the hope of developing African economies as primary product exporters, forcing profound changes to labour laws.
Colonial governments and European firms abolished slavery, yet the old economic logic of enforced labour continued to operate and slavery remained an ordinary part of life across Africa. At the centre of this ‘commercial transition’ was West Africa where these colonial customs were institutionalised and are mirrored in today’s society.
Meeting increasing demand in the 19th century required more cultivation of cocoa, and with the expansion of the chocolate industry since then, so grew slavery and child labour in West Africa as farmers tried their best to keep up with consumers.
Poverty
Poverty is clearly one of the main drivers of the high slavery rates in West Africa. Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have a combined GDP of around $73 billion compared to Nestles’s $100 billion dollars in sales in 2016 and the average farmer in these countries is living well below the international poverty line (*2). With 90% of farmers in this region relying on cocoa as their primary income source they are in desperate need of cheap and controllable labour (*3). It is therefore not uncommon for West African children to leave home at an early age to seek work and provisions for their families.
Lack of education and empowerment of women
Gender equality is understood as a key pillar in the growth of economies and societies. There is too often a connection between the subjugation of women and the toxicity of societal practices and the countries in which slavery is still prevelant frequently falling short on recognising the importance of empowering women. A lack of education amongst farmers and a failure to mobilise a female workforce is a missed opportunity to generate more profitable farms and improve social conditions.
Latest figures
The legacy of tribal societal relations in West Africa remains a contributing factor to an unfair distribution of value and power in the cocoa supply chain. Hierarchical systems and corrupt relationships leave certain members of these communities morally untouchable. A desire to maintain the social order means that unaccountability is accepted and the root causes of the extreme poverty of farmers and conditions of labourers are allowed to continue.
Original photograph: Rodrigo Flores
When it comes to slavery, the reality is more complicated
Given a choice, it’s fair to expect all chocolate companies would choose to go slave-free, as would all consumers. And, in a world where corporations have more money than countries combined, a shake-up of the system feels like a no brainer. However, the difficulty that these corporations have found in trying to make a change just points to the power of the cultural factors at play as you get further down the supply chain.
Many companies are now working in partnerships with African countries to try and reduce these practices and some industry players are currently working towards pledges of reducing or eradicating child labour from their supply chain completely (*4). In 2013, ten of the largest chocolate companies created CocoaAction, an ambitious programme aimed at maximising the collective impact in the cocoa sector and developing programmes that boost productivity and promote better conditions in West Africa (*5).
Despite efforts, progress is slow. It is hard to change something so deeply ingrained in the culture of a region and the industry is divided into those championing ethical practices and those who remain silent (*6). For nearly two decades the biggest chocolate makers have made promises to eliminate these issues in their industry, yet a recent estimate suggested there are well over 2 million West African children still working in conditions that breach international human rights standards. (*7) Some companies still fail to thoroughly address accusations of slavery and child labour in their supply chain and refuse to release any information on where they source their cocoa. The lack of transparency has been characteristic of this industry and at the rate things are going, it will take over 100 years to eradicate slavery in the industry (*8).
Original photograph: Ben White
No easy fixes: It’s not a supply chain quick fix, it’s cultural and that takes time
The more awareness there is of the role that the chocolate industry has in modern-day slavery and child labour, the more consumers will want to buy slave-free chocolate. But availability is still constricted. The lack of a widespread ethical cocoa supply leads slave-free chocolate brands to be seen as ‘exclusive’, a factor that does not help the cause.
The consequences of colonialism and complex cultural challenges are rooted in poverty and rural society and the solution will be as complicated as any major societal shift. We believe brands can be a force of this positive change in society and challenger brands have an opportunity to accelerate this timeline.
Challenging the old ways will be tough, and changing the culture of West Africa won’t happen overnight but there’s no better time to start than now. There is such a consumer appetite for knowing exactly what their money is being spent on and the opportunity for challenger brands to disrupt this space is there for the taking.
Slave-free chocolate brands we’re loving right now.
Tony’s Chocolonely
Dick Taylor Chocolate
Fair Afric
Parliament Chocolate
Footnotes. Sources for this post:
(*1) Cocoa Farmers, Fairtrade
(*2) Bitter Sweet: A special on-the-ground report from West Africa, Fortune, 2016
(*3) Cocoa production in a nutshell, Make Chocolate Fair
(*4) For example, Forever Chocolate Strategy, Barry Callebaut, 2016
(*5) CocoaAction Roadmap, The World Cocoa Foundation, October 2016
(*6) Cocoa’s child labourers, The Washington Post, June 2019
(*7) Survey Research on Child Labour in West African Cocoa Growing Areas, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, 2015
(*8) Child labor and slavery in the chocolate industry, Food Empowerment Project, 2019
This post was co-written by JP Thurlow and Alice Schulz
Alice Schulz is a Content Specialist at Semetrical the digital and content marketing agency.
JP is Craft Partner for Brand and Storytelling at The Craftory, the alternative investment house on a $375M mission to back the world's boldest CPG challenger brands.
