A call for improving farmer livelihood in the cocoa sector

The document highlights the disparity between the high profits of global chocolate companies and the poverty of cocoa farmers, particularly in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. It argues that farmer poverty is a primary driver of environmental and social issues, including deforestation and child labor, and calls for companies to implement living income reference prices, fair contracts, and transparent reporting.

• There is a significant wealth gap between chocolate corporations and producers; while the four largest public chocolate companies (Hershey, Lindt, Mondelēz, and Nestlé) earned nearly $15 billion in confectionery profits since the pandemic, up to 90% of cocoa farmers in Ghana do not earn a living income, with some earning as little as $2 a day.
• Farmer poverty is identified as the root cause of several systemic issues in the cocoa sector, including the overuse of agrichemicals due to unaffordable weeding labor, the use of cheap child labor, gender inequality, and deforestation to expand production areas.
• Significant forest loss has occurred in major producing nations over the last 60 years, with Côte d’Ivoire losing approximately 94% of its forest cover and Ghana losing approximately 80%.
• The document criticizes specific companies for poor sustainability and human rights performance: Storck is cited for scoring poorly on the 2023 Chocolate Scorecard and failing to disclose cocoa sources or commit to fair prices, while Starbucks is noted for lacking a published living income strategy for its cocoa suppliers.
• Civil society organizations propose a three-step transformation for the industry: paying farmers based on a 'living income reference price', implementing simple and standard contracts with fair terms, and transparently reporting progress and policies to consumers.

APA

Parson, T. (2023). A call for improving farmer livelihood in the cocoa sector. Mighty Earth. https://mightyearth.org/article/a-call-for-improving-farmer-livelihood-in-the-cocoa-sector/

Chicago

Parson, Thea. A call for improving farmer livelihood in the cocoa sector. Mighty Earth, 2023. https://mightyearth.org/article/a-call-for-improving-farmer-livelihood-in-the-cocoa-sector/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Parson |first1=Thea |title=A call for improving farmer livelihood in the cocoa sector |publisher=Mighty Earth |date=22 December 2023 |url=https://mightyearth.org/article/a-call-for-improving-farmer-livelihood-in-the-cocoa-sector/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{parson2023call, author = {Parson, Thea}, title = {{A call for improving farmer livelihood in the cocoa sector}}, publisher = {Mighty Earth}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://mightyearth.org/article/a-call-for-improving-farmer-livelihood-in-the-cocoa-sector/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }