Does buying fair trade ‘stick it to the man’ or just hurt the small farmer that is trying to survive?

            I have this thing with cocoa. About 60-70% of the whole world’s cocoa supply comes from West Africa. Apparently the majority of that cocoa is farmed by underpaid workers or child slaves living in horrible conditions. The fact that something like this is still going on in the 21^st century and we support it by buying Nestle chocolate bars seemed outrageous to me when I first heard about it in January. It was enough to get me to stop eating chocolate that was not fair trade. My logic was as follows, the small bit of control I have is over my own actions and my own purchases, so I could do my part by buying fair trade. It has been about ten months now, and after living in Ghana for a month, discussing cocoa farms a lot, and listening to what people here have to say, my mind has perhaps been changed (sorry Ben!).

            Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are the largest cocoa producing countries in the world. Perfect for me then, to live in Ghana and to be able to do a little bit of first hand research on an issue that is near and dear to my heart. What I have learned is that cocoa production here is completely controlled by the government. Each town has a central cocoa station and farmers can only sell their beans to them. The government buys the beans from the farmers at a low price, brings it into factories to refine and package, and then sells the powder to make a huge profit. Now my question is, by not buying cocoa that was farmed in Africa, am I really making it harder for the corrupt government, who will evidently always find a way to profit from the less fortunate, or am I really just depriving the small farmer of the little that they had to feed their family?

            Furthermore, I have yet to see a giant cocoa farm with underpaid workers in Ghana. Yes, the children do work on the farm. Yes, they may be forced to and not make any money. But it is a family business and they are helping out their parents. Is it really all the different from our parents who worked in the orchard or our friends who help milk the cows on the weekend? Not from my point of view. Yes they are younger than we may like or agree with, but it is also a different culture and way of life. I do not know if I can really look down my nose at that. Western standards cannot always be simply applied to non-Western societies. Life is much more complex than that.

            Ok, so you may be thinking “This is just an easy way out so she can eat the good part of Dairy Queen ice cream cake again.” But truly it is not. I am not going to give it up just yet. Everything I have told you about is based on what I have actually seen and different people I have spoken with, but there is so much more to learn. I want to find out where those so-called slave farms are, and what the workers actually think of their jobs. I think that all too often I see a situation as sub-standard with my Western standard goggles on. I do not take the time to dig deeper and obtain the necessary context to see the situation clearly. One cannot pick a single thing out of an environment and evaluate it from that angle when so many issues are so complex and interwoven with one another.

            Even if all the farms in Ghana were ‘fair-trade certified’, the government would still be controlling profits and wages. They would still find some way to exploit and take advantage of the farms. I just don’t think that the solution lies in charging farms a large fee to obtain the certification. It could easily turn into a situation where the big, rich farmers are able to bribe and pay for certification, while the small farmers who cannot afford this, and really need the sales, are left behind in the dust. What I am really trying to get at here is that when the government seems to be the root issues, maybe we should try to do something about that, rather than buying fair trade so we feel better about ourselves.

            I must admit that my abstaining from chocolate was mostly because it was all I really wanted to do. I knew that it is definitely not the solution to the problem at hand, but it was the easy way to feel like I was at least making a small difference. Because a small difference is still something right? Wrong. Not when it is with the wrong attitude. Deep down I knew the truth. I could devote my spare time, even my life to a cause, trying to influence the government and strive to get check and balances put in place, or I could just do without the warm chocolate brownie. Easier choice = no brownie. In my head, buying fair trade justifies taking no other action. This is a severely flawed and dangerous mindset, which I have been made painfully aware of. I told myself that I would stop eating that chocolate until I really found out what kind of action I would take. Now ten months later I still have not actively searched for a solution. Embarrassing to admit, yes; completely honest, yes; wholly necessary, absolutely. I thought that after this long of sticking to a principle so strictly I would feel like I have accomplished something, but now I realize all I’ve really accomplished is 10 months of apathy.  I’m not sure what the next step is, but I know it must be intentional.

A cocoa tree on the farm I visited.

 My cocoa beans in the sun!