Cadbury's announcement - your comments

On 4 March, Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation announced plans to achieve Fairtrade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the nation’s top selling chocolate bar, by end of Summer 2009. This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

Divine Chocolate
Divine is delighted that Cadbury has joined them in saying to the industry that the current way of working is neither sustainable nor fair. Together we really have the chance to create a step change, where the very least companies should do is to pay a Fairtrade price for the ingredients they buy, and that anything less is just not acceptable.

Read Divine Chocolate's statement in full

Department for International Development
Trade and International Development Minister Gareth Thomas:

"The ever increasing rise in sales of Fairtrade goods in the UK shows how committed the British public is to helping developing countries through their shopping. Today's announcement is a fantastic boost which means that more families in Ghana will be able to feed and school their children and know they'll get a fair price in these uncertain times. Now you can eat your chocolate with a clear ethical conscience!"

The Conservative Party

Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP:

“This is real and important progress. There are many competing brand of Fairtrade chocolate available to British consumers and they all help bring progress and stability to the lives of poor farmers in the developing world. The Fairtrade movement has been going from strength to strength and today’s announcement is a real breakthrough.”

Traidcraft statement
Traidcraft welcomes Cadbury’s commitment to convert its Dairy Milk chocolate bar and its hot chocolate beverages to Fairtrade.

This conversion has the potential to introduce Fairtrade to a new and wider consumer audience and, most importantly, will have a strong positive impact on the lives of small-scale cocoa and sugar farmers.

Supporters who have long gone the extra mile to support dedicated fair trade organisations, like Traidcraft and Divine Chocolate, will appreciate all of the pioneering work that has enabled Cadbury’s to make this commitment – from supporters buying the early Fairtrade cocoa products to establish a market, to the cocoa farmers working together to achieve Fairtrade certification.

Paul Chandler, Traidcraft Chief Executive, said: "This is good news for Fairtrade cocoa farmers Kuapa Kokoo – suppliers of cocoa to Traidcraft and part owners of Divine Chocolate – who, through their hard work and in partnership with Divine, are well placed to meet the demands of the growing market.

"The adoption of Fairtrade by the mainstream has been a goal of Traidcraft's for a long time. We recognise that this increases competition but we remain confident that consumers will continue to value and support the pioneering work of dedicated fair trade organisations."

CAFOD Director Chris Bain
"This is great news for cocoa farmers in Ghana. In a volatile, uncertain world, many more farmers and farming communities will be able to enjoy the greater security that selling their cocoa on fair trade terms brings. This commitment is also a result for the thousands of CAFOD supporters who have been buying fair-trade for years, showing companies that consumers care about the source of their products. It is also a tribute to the pioneering work done by Divine Chocolate in establishing the market for fair-trade chocolate."

Twin
Today’s announcement by Cadbury to source Fairtrade cocoa is great news and represents a major commitment to Fairtrade from an iconic British company.

When the Ghanaian government part-liberalised its cocoa-trading monopoly in 1993, Twin helped a small group of visionary Ghanaian cocoa farmers to organise and finance the collection and transport of their cocoa beans to Europe for processing. The farmers formed the Kuapa Kokoo farmer cooperative. Twin and Kuapa Kokoo went on to establish Divine Chocolate in 1998 to return greater value to farmers and challenge the practices of the conventional chocolate industry, including major chocolate companies like Cadbury.

Through our partnership with Divine and Kuapa Kokoo we have established a groundbreaking business model, in which cocoa farmers own a 45% stake in a UK chocolate company, and raised the bar for ethical business in the confectionary industry.

We are proud of these achievements and today’s announcement represents another and a very significant step towards the achievement of our aims.

We are delighted with today’s news and challenge Cadbury to take the following steps to demonstrate its core commitment to the spirit and principles of Fair Trade:

To convert their whole range to Fairtrade over the coming years;
To develop long-term trading relationships with the democratic farmer organisations they source from;
To make additional investments in their supply chains to empower cocoa farmers to exercise greater control of the supply chain and, ultimately, to exert direct influence on the way Cadbury runs its business

For more Information contact: Simon Billing: Office: 00 44 (0) 207 422 0798; Mob: 07813683482

Stop the Traffik

Steve Chalke, STOP THE TRAFFIK founder, said,
"This is a very significant step in our campaign. We congratulate Cadbury on their commitment to justice and now look to their policy being adopted across their entire product range as well as to their lead being followed by other manufacturers. But the STOP THE TRAFFIK Chocolate Campaign marches on. We now call on Mars and other manufacturers to follow Cadbury's lead and abandon their reliance on the use of cocoa produced through trafficked and exploitative forms of child labour"

Read the full release

Have your say!

Great news, I hope this trend will increase to eventually include all their products and its not just a token gesture. I hope this will not change if they are bought out as a company, ethics are ususually first to go out the window!
- Jo Hexter, Cardiff

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Congratulations to Cadbury Dairy Milk for achieving Fairtrade certification. As a FT South Africa volunteer, I would like to believe the slab of chocolate in South Africa will also have FT certification. If not, then it means there are some slabs fairer than others. I urge you to apply your new-found certification globally.
- Hayward, Cape Town, South Africa

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This is very good news. Its about time that food industry giants like Cadbury's are finally waking up to the need to address their ethical margins. Great work to FT for achieving this deal and in doing so ensuring that producers are treated respectably as humane individuals and not a mere cog in the chain of profit creation. I would like to stress the need for those of us outside of the UK to see the benefits of such deals. I want to be able to walk into a store and select a Cadbury's product that has the label of FT certification. We who try to be ethical consumers are limited by what we have a available to us. Will this deal be only limited to UK products or will we in South Africa see the results too? Thank you very much Drew
- Drew Murphy, Cape Town, South Africa

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This is very good news that a big world player like Cadbury's has finally realized that they need to start being a little more ethical in their practices. I'm sure they are seeing the financial benefits to becoming certified, but even so, at least Fair Trade will ensure they are treating their producers with a little more humanity than in the past. I hope this deal will be finalised ASAP and that we in countries outside the UK will feel the effects as well. It's hard to try and be an ethical consumer when you aren't given many options in what to buy. For too long, consumers have been silent and complacent on the ethical margins of their products. Its time we stood up and told the food corporations and the entire industry that we DO care about who produces our food, about HOW they are treating and about WHAT the affect on the environment is. This move by Cadbury's is positive, but doesn't wash them clean of their list of transgressions. I hope that the rest of the industry wakes up and realises that there is a need to go ethical. Well done to FairTrade for achieving this deal! Lets see more in the future!
- Drew Murphy, Cape Town, South Africa

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um, wow, exactly a year ago on the 30th of july i gave up all chocolate and coffee products, and now i hear this, i was stunned, in shock, i forgot how to breathe, but personally, its about time, it should have happened years ago, but atleast it has happened, um, still gtta make "all" products fairtrade, thanks, loads, for finally listening cadbury, and good luck =]
- Manisha, New Zealand

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From where I'm sitting in Melbourne Australia, it's a bit hard to know how to take this news. As Australia is not mentioned, presumably the increased backlog of non fairtrade cocoa will be "offloaded" onto us and other peripheral markets. This process will probably go on for a good long while. I know we Aussies may be considered slow to respond to these situations. Perhaps you Brits could help by letting Cadbury know you are aware of what is happening.
- Ellen Hundley, Melbourne, Australia

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i think that fairtraid is a great opppotunity for the wealthyer people of this world we live in can give a little something back to thoes who slave for us, and for thoes who work their little socs off to serve us. ps in my personal oppinion all the people who worek in the fairtrade industry should all have sone nice time, you know what iu meen. thanks @barbara thanks barbara
- noname :), anywear?

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hello :) i think fair trade is a very good idea, it looks like its helping alot of people to be payed fairly on the hard work that they do, i just itched my nose ;D currently i am at school and this website and i think that fair trade was a very good idea. thank youu xo
- My Name Is.., Anywhere?

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@ Barbara Thanks Barbara, That seems like a well reasoned position from FF. It's a shame Cadbury's don't see it the same way. See their complete 'fudge & milkwash' reply to my question on the Cadbury's Dairy Milk blog page at: http://tinyurl.com/cbp9t3 I really do hope that FF decision to get into bed with a big player like cadbury does not come back to bite you. Please keep pressure on Cadbury's to be as ethical in their approach as you are. That means getting their milk suppliers to sign up to feeding their cows a GM-free diet. To quote you: "we hope that through Fairtrade they can invest in environmental farm management, or even move towards organic certification which does require products to be GM Free" That should should apply just as much to the UK dairy farmers supplying cadbury's, as to Ghanaian cocoa producers. Andrew
- Andrew, Scotland

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Andrew from Scotland raised an important issue about GMOs. Current international Fairtrade standards prohibit the use of GM seeds, and require producers to ensure any processing is free of GM products. Standards are agreed with the participation of farmers' organisation representatives, and they are often quite vocal on this issue. When I was in Mali last year, one cotton farmer and trade unionist said this to me: “We want to be in charge of our own agriculture. We don’t want to have to depend on foreign private companies, especially not northern ones, for our seeds. We see it as an attempt to recolonise Malian agriculture.” So they feel as strongly about it as you do. However, many small farmers also express concern that neighbouring farmers might start to pilot GM crops - it is very difficult for a small scale farmer to protect their farm 100% from cross-contamination. So, our rules encourage producers to do what they can to monitor for GM usage in the vicinity and to protect themselves where they can. However, we do not label Fairtrade products as de-facto 100% GM Free, in case farmers have not been able to protect themselves from a small level of cross-pollination. We don't want the people who need our help most to end up excluded from the Fairtrade system because of this. But we hope that through Fairtrade they can invest in environmental farm management, or even move towards organic certification which does require products to be GM Free.
- Barbara Crowther, Fairtrade Foundation, London

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