Samantha Madell’s Profile
Recent Comments
Ultimate Origins: The Word From Bittersweet
I can understand why Seneca Klassen would like his customers to believe that all cocoa is organically grown, but unfortunately he's totally mistaken on this point.
Perhaps he has never heard of cocoa pod borer, or mirids. Both of these major insect pests pose significant financial risks for cocoa growers. These insects have traditionally been (and in many places still are) controlled by spraying with dangerous organochlorine insecticides, such as Lindane (a chemical which is restricted or banned in the West). To give just one example: in Ghana - the world's second-largest cocoa producer - pesticides are provided by the government.
In 2006, more than 150,000 hectares of cocoa was sprayed with pesticides in Ghana alone!
Klassen may well have visited an organic cocoa plantation somewhere, but his assumption that all cocoa plantations throughout the world are managed in exactly the same way is ridiculous.
I am an agricultural scientist and small-scale chocolate manufacturer in Australia. I care about the welfare of the cocoa growers I work with. I am so tired of people like Klassen spreading this kind of misinformation that I have written a detailed article on the subject, which can be found at:
http://www.tava.com.au/article_chemicals.html
The use of pesticides in the cocoa industry not only results in residues of these chemicals turning up in the chocolate that we eat, but it can also harm the environment where these chemicals are applied, and worst of all, poison the people who work with them.
Klassen (who has a vested interest in making his concerned customers believe that all of the chocolate he sells is organically grown) does nobody but himself any favors by pretending that the entire cocoa industry is organic.
See more comments by Samantha Madell »
Recent Posts
Samantha Madell hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
Samantha Madell hasn't favorited a post yet.
Recent Polls
Samantha Madell hasn't answered any polls yet.
Recent Quizzes
Samantha Madell hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
In response to Diane J from the Rainforest Alliance: I stand by everything I said in this interview.
--
In her comment, Diane J says that the children laboring in the cocoa industry in Ecuador are really just doing "chores". According to my dictionary, a "chore" is a small routine task, especially a domestic one. Most Westerners would associate the concept of "chores" with household tasks like washing the dishes, or doing the laundry.
What I saw (and photographed) in Ecuador were pre-pubescent boys struggling to move sacks of wet cocoa beans, within the context of a commercial enterprise which was certified by the Rainforest Alliance. The boys were not working at home or on a family farm - they were working in a fermentation co-op. The type of sacks these boys were handling weigh 60kg (130lb) when the beans are dry. When the beans are wet, they're even heavier. I run a chocolate factory, and I can assure you that maneuvering these sacks is very hard work. It is by no means a "chore" fit for children.
According to the United Nations, "the cruelest forms of child labor are those that force children to work for long hours in dangerous conditions for little to no compensation".
Heavy manual labor is considered dangerous for children under 18. The children I saw working in Ecuador were undoubtedly doing heavy manual labor. And, what's more, Diane from the Rainforest Alliance "assures" us that these children were being paid nothing for their work!
So, let me get this straight: according to Diane from the Rainforest Alliance, it's OK for a boy to do the work of a man - as long as he's "not receiving wages"! But, according to the UN, this is one of the cruelest forms of child labor. It also happens to be against the law in Ecuador (and every other country I've studied).
What's more, according to the Rainforest Alliance's own standards for cocoa production (PDF doc):
5.19.c Minors must not carry large or heavy loads (no more than 20% of a minor's body weight), and
5.19.f Minors must be remunerated in cash for their labors.
It seems that Diane, if she really is a "long time staffer" of the Rainforest Alliance, is totally out of touch with her own organization's certification standards. (Incidentally, under these rules, a child shouldn't be attempting to lift a 60kg sack unless he weighs 300kg, or 660lb).
Child labor typically exists when the parents are so poor that they are financially compelled to have their children work for direct (or indirect) economic gain. One way to combat child labor is to pay the parents enough money so that they can afford to send their children to school. The premium prices guaranteed by organic and Fair Trade certification help to make child labor unnecessary. Sadly, Rainforest Alliance certification guarantees no such premium - indeed, the Rainforest Alliance only states that laborers must be paid the local minimum wage.
However, a 2006 report by the US Department of State found that Ecuador's national minimum wage "does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family". (They reached the same conclusion about Costa Rica's minimum wage). Of course, many thousands of workers in the USA also know from first-hand experience how hard it is to support a large family on a single minimum wage.
But, nevertheless (according to Diane J) the Rainforest Alliance's own staff in Costa Rica believe that it's acceptable for minors to be paid nothing for their labor. This is a disgrace.