06/09/2022
What does sustainable and fair chocolate mean?
By now we all know that we need to adopt a lifestyle that is sustainable. Sustainability is a broad concept, which is why integrating it into our daily lives proves to be not so easy. There is a lot of misinformation about sustainability, especially when it comes to chocolate and the cocoa industry. Hence the question: what exactly does sustainable and fair chocolate mean?
Global cocoa industry
In the Netherlands, we associate chocolate with a product you eat during the Holidays, a birthday or as a sneaky snack. Eating chocolate is a true moment of pleasure where you can dream away. Unfortunately, for the average cocoa farmer, cocoa farming is a bitter reality. They face modern slavery, child labor, deforestation and poverty. This is still true today for a large portion of cocoa farmers worldwide. Despite many initiatives, major cocoa traders are holding back much-needed change. As a result, most cocoa farmers do not even earn half of what is considered a livable income. So no sustainable and fair chocolate.
Liveable income cocoa farmer
"Then let's pay the cocoa farmer more for his cocoa beans," we hear you thinking. Unfortunately, paying more than the market price set on the London and New York stock exchanges is not enough. A broader approach is needed that takes into account not only a livable income, but also human rights, environmental standards and equal partnership. Reaching price agreements based on equality, preferably with the cocoa farmer or cocoa cooperative itself, so that the trade chain is shortened considerably and unnecessary middlemen are removed from the chain. They, of course, also want to earn a living and that only puts pressure on the price the cocoa farmer gets for his cocoa beans.
Direct Trade chocolate
Felchlin
Hence, since the founding of Cru de Cacao, we have been working with the chocolate of Swiss chocolate producer Felchlin. They buy the cocoa beans directly (Direct Trade) from the cocoa farmer or cocoa cooperative in the country of origin, enter into long-term contracts of at least 5 years with them and pay a fair price to the cocoa farmer, enabling them to use natural resources sustainably and even organically. In this way, cocoa plantations can also be preserved for future generations and the originally fertile soils are not depleted.
Felchlin has incorporated these principles into their Fair Direct Cocoa guideline so that the sourcing of cocoa beans is sustainable, transparent and of the best quality. So sustainable and fair chocolate requires more effort than paying a higher price.
Chocolaterie Tilburg
For us, by now, it is only natural to work with Felchlin's chocolate. Change starts with yourself and we hope that by constantly highlighting the differences in the cocoa industry, people will be able to make conscious choices when it comes to chocolate as well. A chocolate bar for a few euros in the supermarket, even if it has the Fairtrade logo or the quote "slave-free" chocolate, unfortunately says little about the living conditions of the cocoa farmer himself. Would you like to try a truly sustainable and fair chocolate bar in which you can also discover different flavors? Then look further in our online shop where you can also read the special stories about the origin of the chocolate.