Cacao cultivation and rainforest: The high price of chocolate

In the Christmas season it is particularly in demand again: chocolate. But cocoa cultivation continues to destroy huge areas of rainforest – and child labor is still widespread.

Large herds of wild elephants and chimpanzees used to live in the rainforests of Ghana and Ivory Coast – today these rare species are on the brink of extinction in both countries. The reason is the destruction of their habitat, the tropical rainforest. Sacrificed for cocoa cultivation, says Keshia Acheampong from the development organization INKOTA.

According to this, almost all of the cocoa in the Ivory Coast comes from areas that were rainforest just a few years ago. “Cacao cultivation is a key driver of deforestation in cocoa-growing regions. This is particularly the case in West Africa, the main cocoa-growing region.”

Unfair wages a cause of rainforest destruction

According to the organization, one reason for the destruction is the poor pay of the cocoa farmers. According to INKOTA, because the cocoa price is so low and income is too low, many cocoa farmers are clearing the forest areas in order to be able to grow and sell more cocoa – and thus increase their income. “If they have to choose between supporting their family and protecting the rainforest, they don’t really have a choice,” Acheampong said tagesschau.de.

Chocolate manufacturers and their sustainability programs

Like other environmental and human rights organizations, the INKOTA network sees the chocolate industry as primarily responsible. Large manufacturers such as Nestlé, Lindt & Sprüngli and Milka-maker Mondélez have now even launched their own sustainability programs.

But what does that mean specifically? on ARD-demand the answers remain quite vague. For example, Nestlé’s goal of “sourcing deforestation-free cocoa.” At Lindt & Sprüngli, they want to “create a solid livelihood for the cocoa farmers and their families”. According to INKOTA, however, 1.5 million children are still working in cocoa cultivation in Ghana and the Ivory Coast – especially since a good two-thirds of the global cocoa harvest comes from these two countries.

Any manufacturer can write “sustainable” on the chocolate

Tropical biologist Frauke Fischer knows this from her own experience: she herself worked in the Ivory Coast for ten years.

Seven years ago, she and a business partner founded a small chocolate company that buys cocoa directly from small farmers in Peru – above the fair trade price. She criticizes that every chocolate manufacturer can adorn itself with the term “sustainable”. The scientist and entrepreneur believes that the big producers now know that many people are slowly becoming aware of the connection between cocoa and the destruction of the rainforest.

“Many large manufacturers have pilot farms or projects in which things work differently.” But from their point of view, the crucial questions are: “What is the proportion of cocoa that has been processed in these sustainability projects? How do the manufacturers prove sustainability? And how much cocoa do they buy from large cocoa mills without knowing exactly where the cocoa comes from ?”

Eat chocolate without a guilty conscience?

So it will be difficult for consumers who want to buy and enjoy chocolate without a guilty conscience. Recognized certificates can provide orientation. Environmental and human rights organizations are also pinning their hopes on the supply chain law, which will come into force in Germany on January 1st. It aims to make the origin of raw materials transparent and traceable.

Basically, it’s about the value of the chocolate and the question of who earns from it. The worldwide turnover of the chocolate industry is estimated at 110 billion US dollars per year.

According to calculations by INKOTA, cocoa farmers receive just seven percent of the selling price of a regular bar of chocolate. This is far from enough to cover the costs of growing and caring for the cocoa trees, harvesting, transport and the cocoa farmers’ wages.