About Chocolate
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which are sourced from many countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. The scientific name for chocolate is “Theobroma cacao.” Cocoa beans come from cacao trees, which grow around the world in a band spreading 20 degrees north and south of the Equator. Cacao trees produce flowers that become pods that grow on the trunk and branches. There is a mid-crop and main harvest followed by continuous picking. Opened pods show about 42 beans covered by a white coating. Depending on variety, pods can be bright yellow to orange, various shades of green to red.
CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY FACTS
The chocolate industry is a $15 billion business in the US alone. West Africa has become the world’s major supplier of cocoa and since the 1930s, its exports have accounted for more than 60% of the world’s total cocoa supply. Côte d’Ivoire is a major player in the chocolate market, supplying up to 43% of the world’s cocoa beans, and as much as 75% of the beans used in American chocolate. There are approximately 600,000 cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, spread throughout approximately 6,000 villages.
African cocoa growers have not reaped the benefits of Africa’s domination of the cocoa market. Despite the fact that the chocolate business is very lucrative, cocoa farmers and their families are struggling to meet basic needs. Without adequate housing, clothing, or latrines, they suffer from multiple health problems such as malaria and a host of water-borne diseases. Because children spend much of their day performing agricultural duties such as monitoring the drying of cocoa beans, their education suffers as well. In Côte d’Ivoire approximately one-third of children ages 6 to 17 who live in cocoa-producing households have never attended school.
For information on how chocolate is made click here.
For a glossary of chocolate terms please click here.
RESOURCES
Mostly about Chocolate
- The C-Spot
- The Chocolate Life
- Equal Exchange
- Fine Chocolate Industry Association
- Retail Confectioners International
- World Cocoa Foundation
- Exploratorium, San Francisco
- Field Museum, Chicago
RESOURCES ON CHOCOLATE AS IT RELATES TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND FAIR TRADE
- Global Exchange: Fair Trade
- Global Exchange: Chocolate Industry
- Free the Slaves
- International Labor Rights Forum: A Review of Industry Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
- International Labor Rights Forum: Child Labour in Cocoa Industry
- Tulane University’s Payson Center Project on Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry