General information about the cocoa sector
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are in West Africa. Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer of cocoa (more than 40% of world output) and Ghana is the second biggest producer (at least 20% world output). Tony’s Open Chain sources from these two countries because that’s where most of the world’s cocoa comes from and because this is where the human rights issues are the most prominent. Instead of turning a blind eye and choosing the easy way out, Tony’s Open Chain goes where the problems are, to solve them. The issues in the cocoa industry In the chocolate industry, a few big companies make massive profits. Meanwhile, smallholder cocoa farmers are underpaid for their cocoa. Most of these farmers do not earn a living income which means they often live in poverty which leads to deforestation and child labour (Cocoa Barometer 2020).
Interventions to combat poverty are needed immediately and the first quick fix is a higher cocoa price. Cocoa farmers should have the right to maintain a decent standard of living for all members of their households. A living income is set at
$1.96 per person per day in Ghana and $2.45 in Côte d’Ivoire (Living Income Community of Practice, 2022). Excessively low cocoa prices lead to a farmer income of only approximately $0.78 per day (Cocoa Barometer, 2018).
A low cocoa price means many farmers remain in poverty. Which is why they’re driven to drastic measures to make ends meet: roughly 1 in 2 children in cocoa
growing households are involved in child labour. 1.56 million children work illegally in cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire during the 2018/19 season (NORC report, 2020).
When cocoa prices are so incredibly low, farmers try to make more money by selling more cocoa. That is possible by planting cocoa trees in protected forest areas, which means natural forests are replaced by cocoa trees. Cocoa is the leading cause for illegal deforestation and it is widespread in West Africa (Cocoa Barometer 2020). Longer dry seasons and increasing temperatures mean farmers are already feeling the
consequences of climate change. Earning a living income allows farmers to earn more from their own land by investing more in their farms – without needing to cut into forests (Schroth et al. 2016 SciTotEnv, Bunn et al. 2018 CL Report).
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Tony’s Open Chain impact report 2021/22
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