This story has been knocking around for a few days. Today's linked article, from The Namibian, summarizes it pretty well. On Monday, Cadbury Ltd, one of the world's biggest manufacturers of chocolate products, announced that it would invest $87 million in improving the efficiency of Ghanaian cocoa farming, alongside that of other countries in Asia and the Caribbean. Later this week, President Kufuor of Ghana urged the company to begin processing cocoa in Ghana, instead of just extracting raw product. Most Cadbury chocolate lovers don't realize that the taste of their Flake or pack of Buttons is dependent on the taste of one commodity - the Ghanaian cocoa bean. Cadbury know this, however, and when faced with declining productivity in the sector had no choice but to invest in Ghana's cocoa farming communities. So enlightened self-interest has, in this case, helped deliver access to clean water and education as well as improved farming practices. A business model for the 21st century perhaps?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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3 comments:
Is the link in the headline working OK? (It could just be my computer which can't click through...)
Great story, though. And it would be interesting to see what drove Nestle to change their ways - plain market forces? The milk of human kindness? Flaky executives within the corporation? The fair trade campaign which made people snicker when they think of Nestle? There could be a galaxy of reasons, I suppose. Whatever's responsible, let's hope they can make other trade work, rest and play fairer, too!
It's working ok now - and it was last night - but the internet went down across Africa, the Middle East and Asia yesterday, which seems to have affected all kinds of things... just shows how much we all depend on it these days.
Well, the Cadbury story is promising now. But as one RTBH reader just said to me (offline) quite correctly, it's the most recent chapter in a long saga. Things had to get pretty bad for farmers in Ghana before the study referred to in the article was commissioned - and then Cadbury realized that their reliance on Ghana's cocoa bean was looking rather shaky. And from what I've heard this is a big deal - it's no exaggeration to say that the distinct taste of Cadbury's chocolate is largely due to the taste of Ghana's cocoa, so they'd have to change their recipe... My personal take on this story is - overdue but promising first step, need to do more, processing locally will be the key to longer-term sustainability. Let's see how the story unfolds...
As for Nestle - I've never heard anything positive about their operations. They face the same issues re 'extract then process elsewhere' as Cadbury but for a much larger product portfolio. Personally, I try to avoid them - I've never quite forgiven them for the baby milk fiasco... But all the chocolate references in your post ARE very witty, Diana, and made me smile a lot! Thanks!! Good one.
E
Oops, Canbury - not Nestle, Cadbury. I meant Cadbury - sorry!
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