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Cacao seed in the fruit or pocha from the Theobroma cacao tree Cocoa seeds being dried before roasting Cocoa seeds being roasted. Fair trade cocoa is an agricultural product harvested from a cocoa tree using a certified process which is followed by cocoa farmers, buyers, and chocolate manufacturers, and is designed to create sustainable incomes for farmers and their families.
Specialty cocoa is an umbrella term usually describing cocoa that has consistent and verifiable special attributes. These attributes are distinguished by country, along lines including management, origin and quality. It contains fine and flavor cocoa, fair trade, heirlooms, organic, sustainable and other certified cocoas. [10]
The Seattle-based chocolate maker Theo Chocolate was one of the first companies that were "fair-trade certified" and produced organic chocolate. In 2006 when Theo Chocolate began their production of organic chocolate, there were no solid guidelines for chocolate manufacturing at the time and they had to get the process and ingredients in the correct measurements.
The cocoa tree was first grown successfully on the island of Príncipe in 1824. [1] A dormant volcano, Príncipe is particularly well-suited for the cocoa tree because of its volcanic soil. [32] Cocoa plantations cover 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) of the island of São Tomé, mainly in its northern and central areas. [33]
Cooperatives pay farmers a fair price for their cocoa so farmers have enough money for food, clothes, and school fees. [163] One of the main tenets of fair trade is that farmers receive a fair price, but this does not mean that the larger amount of money paid for fair trade cocoa goes directly to the farmers.
Fairtrade International was established in 1997. It set private standards relating to labour, cooperative organisation, and the governance of the Fairtrade benefits. The organisation was divided in January 2004 into two independent organisations: [5]
According to advocates of fair trade, such as Ghanaian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo, [1] [2] "Big Chocolate" companies include Mondelez (which owns Cadbury), Mars, Nestlé, and The Hershey Company. Together these companies process about 12% [citation needed] of the world's 3 million tons [3] of cocoa each year.
Divine Chocolate Limited is a British purveyor of Fairtrade chocolate. It was originally established in the United Kingdom in 1998 as a company limited by shares co-owned by the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa farmers' co-operative in Ghana, Twin Trading and The Body Shop, with support from Christian Aid and Comic Relief.