What are the Benefits of Fair Trade Chocolate?
Just what the name implies. It’s a trading alliance that helps small producers of cocoa get a fair price for their product. Can’t argue with that. It’s estimated that most cocoa farmer’s yearly pay is less than $2,000 before expenses. The average worker is paid from $200 to $400 per year. Low cocoa bean prices sound like good news for us chocolate lovers, right? Wrong!They can drive producers out of business. Fair trade guarantees farmers a minimum price, a living wage. One that can keep them in business. That’s a good, if somewhat selfish reason to support it. But the best reason is that everyone seems to benefit. Farmers are organized into democratically run cooperatives that… • access better trading oportunities=better prices • protect their rights • manage their production and marketing • protect the environment=eco-friendly crop management, most lethal pesticides prohibited How do the cocoa workers benefit? They get paid. Fair trade protects against… • slave labor • exploitati
