Giselle Achecar, EcoRico Chef, Asks You To Buy Fair Trade Chocolate! (VIDEO)

Ah chocolate. One of life's glorious pleasures. But did you know the chocolate bar you’re eating may have been produced with child slave labor? Yes, my friends, child slave labor in cocoa production is an ugly truth on our planet.

At EcoRico we love our vegan chocolate pudding and hot chocolate. And both are made with Fair Trade cocoa. Fair Trade? Huh?

Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade, based on a partnership between producers – those who farm -- and consumers – those who eat. Fair Trade offers producers improved terms of trade – higher wages, credit, direct selling. Producers in turn guarantee that they farm according to strict economic, social and environmental criteria.

Fair Trade farmers organize themselves democratically into cooperatives. They receive a guaranteed minimum price and an additional premium for certified organic. They then invest their premiums in development projects like health care, new schools, training and organic certification programs in their local communities.

Even better, the Fair Trade certification system prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and limits the use of harmful agrochemicals in favor of environmentally sustainable farming. Importers purchase directly from Fair Trade producers, eliminating middlemen and empowering farmers to become competitive players in the global economy.

And, most importantly, forced child labor is strictly prohibited. It is a sick irony that the chocolates we hand out to little trick-or-treaters are being farmed by kids just like them in other areas of our beautiful world, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa.

In June 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a study titled "Regional Initiative Combating Worst Forms of Child Labour on West African Cocoa Farms". In it the OECD estimates the number of working children in Sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of 4 and 15 years of age to be 50 MILLION, with 69% of those kids working in agriculture.

Cocoa is the region's largest export.

Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are the biggest producers of cocoa in the region. Studies show that “nearly half of all children living on cocoa farms have been engaged in at least one hazardous activity. These include carrying heavy loads, spraying fertilizers and pesticides and cutting trees…”

Worst of all "some children have been trafficked from other regions of the country or neighbouring countries. This practice [of enslavement] is one that international conventions recognise as criminal."

The good news is that on Fair Trade farms, slave labor is strictly prohibited and farms are inspected to ensure that Fair Trade standards are met.

For more information on Fair Trade, please visit www.fairtradeusa.org, the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the USA.

By Giselle Achecar

Giselle Achecar is the vibrant creator of EcoRico, an eco-lifestyle brand, which includes the online sensation EcoRico cooking show, EcoSexy tips and the ground-breaking personal success program “Marry Your Passion with Your Purpose”. This Latina Chef makes green living fun, sexy and accessible. Connect with Giselle at www.eco-rico.com, www.facebook.com/ecoricotv and on Twitter @EcoRicoTV. For eco-licious recipes, please visit http://www.eco-rico.com/ecoeatz/.

Comments

[FaceTheTruth00]

07:28 PM on 01/30/2012

I'm thinking this organization should be targeting businesses rather than consumers. They are the ones who are buying the bulk of chocolate. So, target grocery stores, restaurants and big box places like Walmart and have them purchase the fair trade chocolate, to pass on to their consumers.

First off, companies buy in bulk, so they can afford to negotiate a better price than an individual consumer. Secondly, the major buyers of chocolate would have to be businesses, who then turn around and sell to customers.

I love chocolate, but I buy, maybe a candy bar a month. I doubt if I would really notice an extra 10 cents per bar added by the retailer. However, I would notice if I shelled out 3 bucks to buy one bar of chocolate from a specialty company.

[EcoRicoTV]

10:44 PM on 02/18/2012

I agree with you. But you and I both know that if demand is not there, companies will go with the cheapest product - always. If demand dictates that the consumer will pay 10 cents more for Fair Trade chocolate because the consumer demands Fair Trade products, then you can bet Walmart will stock them.

[FaceTheTruth00]

03:11 PM on 02/24/2012

You are right that any business will most likely cut corners where possible. And I'm not against lobbying consumers, I'm just saying that convincing retailers as well would do the most good.

[walk1111]

11:35 AM on 01/28/2012

I don't want to deprive the kids in Africa an opportunity to earn money. Without the small pay, families would starve. I don't like the idea of child labor but we can't have a planet where everyone is middle class.

[EcoRicoTV]

10:42 PM on 02/18/2012

Of course we can. There is more than enough to go around. Ignorance is not bliss. Child slave labor is outrageously harmful to the communities in which it occurs. If workers were paid fair wages, the children in those communities wouldn't have to work. The premium wages paid those farmers go to the communities for schools, hospitals, fresh water facilities. That's called Fair Trade labor. You can read up on it at http://www.fairtradeusa.org/.

[FSMbaby]

09:08 AM on 01/28/2012

Please, people, buy fair trade and organic whenever you can. I know the argument against it is always the higher cost but consider this. Processed junk rarely fills us up so we end up overeating. If we eat whole, healthy foods we will likely eat less and maybe the cost will even out.

[EcoRicoTV]

10:39 PM on 02/18/2012

Thanks for that comment. I have to add that, if our gov't didn't subsidize Big Agro and/or also subsidized organic farmers, prices would be relatively equal. It costs a lot of money for all those pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides conventional farming uses. But not so much $$ when it's paid for by the taxpayer. Jus' my 2 cents.

[mtman233]

06:49 AM on 01/28/2012

UNION PLAY

[EcoRicoTV]

10:36 PM on 02/18/2012

Not sure what you mean by that, but I am a BIG FAN of unions and fully support any organization that helps workers get fair wages and working conditions.