INDUSTRY SHOUT-OUT FOR WHAT WE PAY FOR COCOA 

Hot off the press! The higher price we pay for cocoa just got mentioned in the Cocoa Barometer 2022 as a best practice way to help cocoa farmers move out of poverty. 

And we agree with the report: cocoa farmers don't receive enough for their cocoa. Which makes it impossible for the average farmer to earn a living income – depriving them of a decent standard of living. A decent standard of living means the whole household: 

• is well nourished  

• has completed 6 years of school or is attending school  

• has access to adequate sanitation facilities, clean drinking water, electricity, and a solid housing structure  

• owns some of the following assets: radio, TV, telephone, computer, refrigerator, animal cart, bicycle, motorbike, car or truck 

We’re also fully aligned with the Cocoa Barometer 2022 on the following: Cocoa farmers not being able to earn a living income leads to poverty, which is the root cause of illegal labor in cocoa. Because poverty prevents cocoa-farming parents from being able to send their children to school. Instead, children have to help out on the farm.  

To earn a living income, cocoa farmers need to receive the Living Income Reference Price (LIRP). This is a price we calculated with Fairtrade and what we pay for all cocoa. And we're stoked that the LIRP is mentioned as “one of the only systems in place that is paying cocoa households significantly more for their cocoa” (p.22) in the Cocoa Barometer 2022. 

Luckily, we're not the only ones paying the LIRP. Our Tony's Open Chain Mission Allies do too. Give it up for Ben & Jerry's, ALDI, Albert Heijn, Vly Foods, Jokolade, The Flower Farm, KoroSource and PLUS Supermarket for also paying a higher price. 

Now it's time for ALL chocolate companies to do the same. And, while we're at it, time for governments to implement legislation that makes paying a price that enables a living income mandatory by law. Because it's only together that we'll make 100% slave-free the norm in chocolate.  

Wanna read the full Cocoa Barometer 2022 publication? Dive in here!