Let's talk about chocolate! And some other things...

No, I’m not referring to talking about what a good antidepressant chocolate is, or how a dark chocolate a day keeps the doctor away, or how chocolate may protect the brain and heart. I’m sure everyone has their justified opinions about these issues. Let’s talk about some facts and take a journey to the Majority World.

The place we’re going to visit is the Costa Rica in Central America. From this country CTM Altromercato (one of l-Arka’s suppliers) gets the main ingredient for producing chocolate: sugar. One of the cooperatives from which Fair Trade sugar is imported is Coopeagri. Examples of the chocolate products that the shop gets from this producer are Bribon - coffee and guarana (Fig 1), biscotti con cacao e anacardi (Fig 2), cajita (Fig 3), Cioccolatini Ripieni assortiti (Fig 4) and Nocciolato (Fig 5), as well as number of other non-chocolate ones.

Coopeagri is the first Fair Trade Town in Latin America. A Fair Trade Town is, basically, any community which adheres to certain goals concerning Fair Trade and ethical consumption. The common five goals of such a town are that the local council agrees to make use of Fair Trade products, that Fair Trade products are available locally, that schools, workplaces, places of worship and community organisations support Fair Trade, that media coverage and events raise awareness to the people in the community, and that a Fair Trade group coordinating different sectors of Fair Trade is formed to continue developing over the years. So what’s the story behind Coopeagri?

Let’s imagine we have a time machine, and we can rewind back to the 1940’s in Pérez Zeledón Costa Rica. We find ourselves in a situation of great political unrest which eventually led to a reform after a Civil War broke out due to the monopolization of private enterprise and a fraudulent election in 1948. For some time the country saw economic growth, however in the 1960’s prices shot up and those most affected were the small and medium producers. Marketing coffee was a difficult job and exploitation was rife among Pérez Zeledón producers. A group of them decided to work on creating an organisation to sustain themselves, and after a lot of hard work November 1962 saw the birth of CoopereZeledón RL. In 1969 they opened their first supermarket and later, upon the introduction of a sugar factory, the name of the organisation was changed to General RL CoopeAgri. In 1994 the cooperative started a Fair Trade development model according to which the workers could get a fair wage for their work. Nowadays the decisions in the organisation are taken through a democratic system. The cooperative is also active in the conservation and protection of forests through diverse programs, for example their sustainable coffee mill keeps the use of water and energy to a minimum. In addition the cooperative also provides some social services to community members who are not part of the cooperative.

According to Gilbert Ramirez, a coffee producer from this cooperative,

“Fair Trade has been promoted as a means to equalize the economic gap between developed and developing countries[...] Fair Trade brings a direct connection between producers from the community, and buyers and customers.”

In the sharing of his experience during a talk in the Global Exchange Fair Trade Store in San Francisco, Gilbert mentioned that the Fair Trade premium that producers receive is of great help, since it makes a number of community development projects in the area possible, such as house renovations. The Fair Trade premium is an amount of money paid in addition to the agreed Fair Trade price which is used by producers to invest in social or economic projects.

Has it ever occurred to you what story is behind that chocolate you’re eating? Unfortunately the stories of certain chocolates is like a horror film which makes you wish you had never seen it. But fortunately enough, as this article shows, there is something we can do. If Fair Trade spreads, and more people make more ethical choices in their daily lives, this could hopefully lead to less horrific stories behind the production of chocolate and other products. So let’s choose Fair Trade chocolate!

Joelle Mifsud Taliana