The Great African Scandal
Firstly, just to assure you that Organic Re-education Step One is still progressing: organic chips and organic ketchup went down very well, accompanied by Youngs responsible Pollock nuggets!
I watched The Great African Scandal on Channel Four last night - with the blessed advantage of TVDrive so I could fast forward through all the sections where Robert Beckford proved that he obviously usually uses his brain far more than his muscles!
Robert Beckford was the guy mentioned in “Just a spoonful of sugar…” who traced his roots back in a previous documentary via the slave trade in the West Indies to Ghana. Who better then to return to Ghana and look at the true cost to human life of the rice, chocolate and gold we all enjoy on a daily basis? Perhaps due to his link to the country, I felt that he was rather emotive and far from objective and yet, the stark reality of the life of the farmers and growers and miners was there for all to see.
It was disappointing that while he repeatedly mentioned fair trade, the Fairtrade mark was not shown once and no clue was given as to how to purchase fair trade products. The most interesting fact in the whole programme was that only 3% of the cocoa beans sold by the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative are sold at the fair trade premium price. So 97% of their produce is grown under fair trade regulations (no child labour, paying fair wages…) without obtaining a fair price. (You’ll find cocoa from Kuapa Kokoo at the heart of all the Divine Chocolate products)
The fair trade produce is out there, but the big manufacturers refuse resolutely to pay a fair trade price. They know their have won our hearts via our stomachs and until we take a stand, the Great African Scandal will continue to unfold.
Filed under: fair trade, africa, chocolate on September 25th, 2007
Hello there
Thanks for mentioning Divine in your blog - we were rather disappointed they didn’t mention Divine in the programme - as you say - it would be useful if people got a tip as to which Fairtrade chocolate they can look out for!
Just making sure you’ve checked out news of Chocolate Week - and the wonderful new Divine Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart - an irresisitible Fairtrade cookbook.
best wishes, Charlotte
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