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:
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To convert their whole range to Fairtrade over the coming years;
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To develop long-term trading relationships with the democratic farmer organisations they source from;
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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