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 www.lci-koeln.de www.bdsi.de
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February 2012
scientific press service - publisher: prof. dr. r. matissek
lebensmittelchemisches institut der deutschen süsswarenindustrie, cologne
heute

Sustainability in the cocoa sector –

Review, challenges and approaches

Professor Dr. Reinhard Matissek, Head of Lebensmittelchemisches Institut (LCI),

Cologne, des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Süßwarenindustrie (BDSI), Germany

in collaboration with:
Dr. Juliane Reinecke, Warwick Business School, Coventry, UK
Oliver von Hagen, International Trade Center (UN/WTO), Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. Stephan Manning, College of Management and Marketing,
University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA

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Sustainability in the cocoa sector –

Review, challenges and approaches

Summary

The cocoa industry is suffering from a number of interconnected problems: Be this the over-aged tree stocks,
the repercussions of disease and pest infestation, the political instability in West Africa, a lack of agricultural
professionalism, an absence of infrastructure, or the shortcomings of the educational and financial systems in
the cocoa-growing regions. A further problem is exploitative child labor on cocoa farms.

Instead of continuing to wait for an international, legally-binding solution, numerous private and multi-stakeholder
initiatives have been formed within the cocoa sector aimed at creating greater economic wealth and fairness,
social justice in the producing countries, as well as social responsibility and ecological sustainability along the
global value-added chain. To this end, sustainability standards are increasingly being applied in cocoa produc-
tion. As demand for raw cocoa will continue to rise, training, improved production methods, rising productivity
and promotion of diversification guarantee that cocoa of a consistently high quality and in quantities to meet
market needs is offered by farmers in the future, thus also securing their long-term livelihoods.

Professor Dr. Reinhard Matissek, Head of Lebensmittelchemisches Institut (LCI), Cologne,

des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Süßwarenindustrie (BDSI), Germany

in collaboration with:
Dr. Juliane Reinecke, Warwick Business School, Coventry, UK
Oliver von Hagen, International Trade Center (UN/WTO), Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. Stephan Manning, College of Management and Marketing, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA
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Contents

Introduction 3
Early cocoa history 3

I. Agricultural challenges: Over-aged stocks and the spread of disease

and pest infestation
• Cocoa cultivation 4
• Diseases and pest infestation and their impact 4

II. Multi-causal amplifiers of the challenges in cocoa cultivation
• State development aid programs in Europe, the USA 7
and the international community
• Political instability 8
• HIV, malaria, cholera and their consequences 9
• Lack of “good agricultural practice” 9
• Structures, education, finances 10
• Rural exodus and pragmatism 11
• Exploitative child labor 12

III. Promotion of sustainability in the production and procurement of cocoa

• Vertical initiatives 15
• Certifications 16
• Fundamental initiatives 18
• 360 degree perspective 19

IV. Challenges in the promotion of sustainability 19

• Uncertainty over sustainable demand 20
• Economic obstacles 21
• The new International Cocoa Agreement: A sustainable solution? 21
• Main objective: Joint solutions along the entire supply 21
and value-added chain
• Amplifiers: The cocoa agreement as a precursor for other accords 22
with a binding and obligatory character

Conclusion 23

Bibliography 25
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Introduction
Chocolate is enshrouded in many myths; there is scarce-
ly another sweet product that arouses such strong
emotions. Chocolate is manufactured to a major extent
from cocoa – one of the key and most fascinating raw
materials in the food industry worldwide. Cocoa is –
alongside coffee – one of the tropical agricultural prod-
ucts par excellence. Both coffee and cocoa cultivation
are conducted in the same countries along the tropical
belt. In the meantime, cocoa is grown in more than 40
tropical countries. According to the World Cocoa Founda-
tion the main producers are more than 5 million farmers
in countries such as the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), in
Ghana and Indonesia, as well as in Brazil and Ecuador,
producing between 3.5 and 4 million tonnes of cocoa
Early cocoa history
The cacao tree, which the scientist Linné (1735) gave
the delightful name Theobroma cacao (“food of the
gods”), is one of 22 species of the genus Theobro-
ma. The entire genus is native to the moist tropics of
South America – in the Amazonian lowlands, the
world’s largest single area of rainforest. The Indios of
the Amazonian lowlands use not only T. cacao but
also five other species for the production of cocoa-
like products; worldwide, however, only the T. cacao
species has been used to date.
This extremely large area of rainforest is so hetero-
geneous in terms of its nutrients, rainfall, climate and
surface structure that widely differing and often iso-
lated populations of T. cacao have developed in the
region to which the cocoa tree is native.
Long before Columbus discovered America cocoa was
of extraordinary economic significance among the
Mayas and Aztecs. Cocoa seeds and cocoa plants had
found their way to Mexico with travelers. The Mayas
established cocoa plantations as long ago as the
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each year. All in all, 40 to 50 million people worldwide
are dependent in economic terms on the cultivation and
processing of cocoa [1].
For many years now persistent discussion regarding
social issues such as exploitative child labor and
slave labor in the cocoa-growing countries has over-
shadowed the untainted enjoyment of chocolate and
other products containing cocoa. But in which overall
context should exploitative child labor be placed?
Is it not the case that the tropical cocoa industry is
suffering under a number of problems that are ultima-
tely intertwined?
seventh century. Thus the habitat of the cocoa tree
when America was discovered had already spread far
beyond its “center of origin”, the Amazonas region, to
secondary habitats, the Circum-Caribbean region.
Above all the countries on the northern coast of South
America and the Central American region were known
as secondary habitats for cocoa. The small populations
of cocoa trees used here were – separated from the
primary cocoa populations – successfully cultivated
further. As a result, individual cultures came about
which – due to the limited genetic exchange and even
its total absence – formed special local varieties, for
example the cocoa in the region of Lake Maracaibo
(Venezuela), in Nicaragua and in Yucatan (Mexico).
In the populations already isolated in the pre-Columbi-
an period the botanical features were so different that
the Criollo cocoa typical of Central America was classi-
fied by botanists in 1964 as a separate sub-species
alongside the Forastero cocoa found in the primary
habitat [2].
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I. Agricultural challenges: Over-aged
stocks and the spread of disease and pest
infestation
Cocoa cultivation
The cocoa tree is a shade-loving plant, preferring to
share its habitat with a variety of other plants. If one
bears in mind that in the lowland rainforests of Central
America as many as 140 different endemic species of
tree are found per hectare – while in Europe 12 different
species on a comparable area is considered to be a
large number – it becomes clear that the cocoa tree per
se is not a plantation plant. In nature one or two cocoa
trees are found in each hectare of forest. Nevertheless,
there are now a number of hybrids which thrive on
plantations (above all in South America) and which
tolerate strong sunlight.
A cocoa tree used as a cash crop lives to age of 25 years
on average, whereby in Africa it may be harvested until
an age of as many as 40 years. The yield declines consi-
derably with older trees, however, and susceptibility to
disease increases significantly. This is becoming one of
the key challenges in more and more growing regions,
and above all on the African continent. A number of
industry initiatives are countering this with a selective
rejuvenation of plant stocks.
The cocoa tree grows to a height of 15 meters. As a rule,
farmers restrict the height to a maximum of 5 meters
through pruning. It bears fruit for the first time after
five to six years and provides – although fruit and
flowers are often to be found on the tree at the same
time – two harvests per year (a main harvest and a
light or mid harvest). The fruit grows out of a vanilla-
like flower directly on the trunk. It is between 15 and
20 centimeters long and as heavy as 500 grams. Within
the pod are some 50 cocoa beans encased in flesh. On
average a tree yields some 50 pods and thus around
2,500 beans per harvest. The average yield per hectare
in West Africa is frequently a mere 350 kilograms of
cocoa. In contrast, taking Indonesia as an example, with
good agricultural practices a yield of 900 kilograms is
possible on the same area. Cocoa trees require a lot of
water (at least 1,500 mm of rainfall per year), healthy
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soil rich in nutrients, and average temperatures of more
than 20 degrees Celsius. These demands make the
cocoa tree a sensitive “diva – a prima donna of the eco-
system” as Matthias Berninger, the former permanent
secretary in the German SPD-Green Party coalition
government and himself a member of the Green Party,
said in an interview [3].
Diseases and pest infestation
and their impact
In the course of ever more intensive cocoa cultivation
in Latin America, diseases and pest infestation have,
in the past, spread to a greater degree. In Brazil for
example – once the world’s leading export nation –
“witches broom”, a fungal disease which causes major
growth dysfunctions, decimated the cocoa stocks in
the early 1990s to such an extent that cocoa cultivation
declined in significance dramatically for Brazil over a
period of many years. In the 1990/91 harvest season
Brazil’s cocoa volume was 368,000 tonnes according
to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). In the
2005/06 season this volume had declined to a mere
162,000 tonnes [4]. In 2009/10 the ICCO registered
a figure that was still as low as 161,000 tonnes (see
Illustration 1 and Table 1). In the meantime the annual
cocoa volume of Côte d’Ivoire had risen from 804,000
tonnes in 1990/91 to 1,505,000 tonnes in the 2005/06
season. Nevertheless, the Ivorian crop yield in the fol-
lowing years again declined, amounting to 1,242,000
tonnes in 2009/10. For the 2010/11 season a volume
of some 1,400,000 is expected again. Côte d’Ivoire
and Ghana still supply between 60 and 70 percent
of the global cocoa volume, whereby Côte d’Ivoire is
the undisputed Number One on the world market with
a share of some 40 percent. The West African state is
also the most important supplier of raw cocoa for
Germany (see Illustration 2).
Witches broom and black pod also raged in Ecuador in
the 1990s, severely affecting the country’s cocoa tree
stock. In the meantime Ecuador has recovered, sup-
plying the global market with some 150,000 tonnes in
2009/10 – virtually doubling the amount supplied in
the 2002/03 season.
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Cocoa Production worldwide

Caribbean, Harvest 2009/2010 = 3,631,000 tonnes
Central and
South America Asia and
total Oceania
522,000 t total
Africa
633,000 t
total
2,458,000 t 535,000 t
Indonesia

160,000 t 50,000 t
Ecuador P. New Guinea

161,000 t 48,000 t
Brazil Others

201,000 t 1,242,000 t
Others Côte d’Ivoire

632,000 t 240,000 t 190,000 t 154,000 t

Ghana Nigeria Cameroon Others (t = tonnes)

Illustration 1: Harvest year 2009/2010: October 1 to September 30, ICCO Annual Report 2010

In addition to black pod and witches broom, for which
there is still no effective remedy, other diseases and
pests also pose a challenge for cocoa farmers. Here one
needs to remember that many farmers, and especially
those in Africa, can set aside very little or no financial
resources for effective pest management. Moreover,
there is often a lack of the necessary knowledge of the
optimum methods of farming cocoa plants.
Experts estimate that witches broom and black pod,
as well as other diseases typical for cocoa, destroy as
much as 30 percent of the potential harvest worldwide
each year. This corresponds to a loss of raw materials of
approx. 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes of cocoa per year.
Acknowledged good agricultural practice today in-
cludes, for example, “integrated pest management”
systems. Accordingly, when ensuring a healthy plant
stock, farmers should exhaust all the alternatives
before resorting to agrochemicals. The use of agro-
chemicals is, therefore, not necessarily the preferred
solution in the modern cocoa economy. Rather good
agricultural practice means finding the right balance of
necessary steps and measures at the right time.
Ecological farming (Organic/Bio) bans, without excep-
tion, the use of chemical crop protection and insecti-
cides, and a not inconsiderable number of experts
are calling for near-natural cocoa growing “as 100 years
ago”, thus rejecting the use of agrochemicals as in the
long term these would damage the health of cocoa
plants more than they would help: But is this really the
right path for a sustainable cocoa economy?
In Ghana, Togo and Nigeria, for example, there are
repeated outbreaks of the so-called “cocoa swollen
shoot” virus (CSSV), which is transmitted by mealy-
bugs and which causes the rapid death of plants. A
particular threat is the fact that CSSV often spreads
quickly to the entire growing area. In organic farming
its spread is countered by removing plants affected
by the disease. Mechanical disease control is also
successfully utilized with “black root”, a fungal disease
predominantly found in the Caribbean: So affected
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Cocoa production (beans, in 1,000 tonnes)

2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

AFRICA 2693 71.8% 2518 69.9% 2458 68%

Cameroon 185 227 190
Côte d’Ivoire 1382 1222 1242
Ghana 729 662 632
Nigeria 230 250 240
Others 166 158 154

AMERICA 469 12.5% 488 13.5% 522 14.4%

Brazil 171 157 161
Ecuador 118 134 160
Others 180 197 201

ASIA & OCEANIA 597 15.8% 599 16.6% 633 15.5%

Indonesia 485 490 535
Papua New Guinea 52 59 50
Others 55 50 48

WORLD 3752 100% 3605 100% 3613 100%

Table 1: ICCO Annual Report, 2010, harvest year: October 1 to September 30

trees have to be removed together with all their roots.
In other cases of fungal attack copper and sulfur
solutions are sprayed in organic farming; fungicides
are also used in conventional agriculture.
In the meantime Indonesia is the largest cocoa supplier
outside of Africa. Its exports amounted to 535,000
tonnes in the 2009/10 season. In 2012 the Indonesian
government intends to be able to supply around one
million tonnes of cocoa. Yet that could remain wishful
thinking, as could the utopian idea of supplying the
global market with two million tonnes per annum by
2020 – for the cocoa growing sector in Southeast Asia
repeatedly suffers under serious attack by pests, e. g.
by the “cocoa pod borer”. This is a moth which bores
into the cocoa fruit in its larval stage, frequently not
emerging until it is as an insect already capable of
flight. The use of insecticides to combat the larvae and
the moth has only displayed limited success. This is a
further reason why scientists and farmers are testing
alternatives: In some cases the growing fruit is encased
in plastic, in other cases workers simply remove all the
fruit. This is one option, and in particular in phases of
the lower-volume mid-harvest, yet means a direct loss
in terms of yield and income. Understandingly enough,
many farmers do not wish to lose one single cocoa fruit.
Hormone fragrance traps are often used to combat the
moth. This pheromone variant is very cost-intensive,
however. A further possibility is offered by the settle-
ment of beneficial organisms, e.g. wasps which feed on
the moth larvae.
Once again it is a fungus which is responsible for ano-
ther disease, “vascular streak dieback”, which is mainly
prevalent in Southeast Asia. This disease initially affects
the branches, and ultimately the entire plant. In order to
combat this, farmers cut back the plant to a point about
30 cm beneath the diseased section.
With some sustainability initiatives, such as the stan-
dard-setting organizations (Rainforest Alliance/SAN
and Utz Certified), or the fundamental programs, such
as Source Trust, who all place their faith in “integrated
pest management”, chemicals may only be used if and
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Germany’s raw cocoa suppliers

Côte d’Ivoire
Haiti Uganda
146.4 (44.1%)
2.7 (0.8%) 2.6 (0.8%)

Dominican Rep.
2.9 (0.9%) Nigeria
65.0 (19.6%)

Sierra Leone
5.0 (1.5%) Cameroon Togo
6.8 (2.0%) 42.9 (12.9%)
Indonesia
9.2 (2.8%)
Other countries
13.6 (4.1%)
Ecuador
15.7 (4.7%)
Ghana
19.1 (5.8%)

Illustration 2: Net imports in 2010 in 1,000 tonnes with respective share of total imports, BDSI, 2011

where their deployment is indispensable. Compared
to Organic/Bio, there is a simple reason for this more
flexible approach: “We would like the farmers to be able
to protect their crops. For if they lose these, they also
lose their livelihoods. And that is no longer sustainable,”
says Chris Wille, head of sustainable agriculture section
at the Rainforest Alliance.
The numerous initiatives and projects revolve, above all,
around conveying – where necessary – to cocoa farmers
the important elements of good agricultural practice.
consistently pushed ahead with the expansion of
growing areas for cocoa in West Africa. Development
aid funding was used to log entire forest regions, and
attempts were made to establish cocoa monocultures
as the main source of agricultural income for countries
such as Côte d’Ivoire. The need for growing areas
increasingly rose. New growing areas also had to be
developed on a continual basis as the soils were leached
extremely quickly, and thus no longer suitable for cocoa
cultivation. As a consequence untypical diseases also
increased there.

In addition there were structural shortcomings: The early

II. Multi-causal amplifiers of the challenges
in cocoa cultivation
State development aid programs in Europe,
the USA and the international community
In the 1970s and 1980s state development aid programs
in Europe, the USA and the international community
development programs all neglected to guarantee the
cocoa farmers in undeveloped areas market access by
connecting them to the road network etc. Furthermore,
disputes, e. g. over unclear land ownership, escalated
between immigrants and the native population, and
some of these still remain unresolved. The lack of legal
protection for property leads to uncertainty and thus
reduces the probability of long-term investment in
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sustainable agriculture. This also repeatedly leads to
political disputes and in part to violent conflicts.
Political instability
It is above all African cocoa-growing regions which
are repeatedly affected by political instability. As a
consequence of the economic crisis in the 1970s Côte
d’Ivoire experienced political unrest. This was follow-
ed by several years of relative peace until a military
coup in 1999. The leader of the rebels, General Robert
Guei, governed for a year, in which the purported ac-
tual underlying conflicts could not be resolved. For: As
much of 35 percent of the population of Côte d’Ivoire
are regarded as “foreigners”, who originate from the
Sahel, from Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Many of
them work in the cocoa economy. Although the majority
of these families already has Ivorian nationality, for a
large number of established landowners they remain
“second-class Ivorians”. Moreover, people from the
north are treated with suspicion if they have surnames
such as Ouattara and thus reveal a cultural proximity to
Mali or Burkina Faso. It is evident that there is growing
xenophobia in the south of Côte d’Ivoire, nourished by
a high unemployment rate and fanned by the “concept
d’ivorité”, a form of proof of clear Ivorian ancestry. The
“concept d’ivorité” was for many years a prerequisite
for being allowed to stand as a candidate in elections,
for example [5].
In 2000 General Guei was replaced by Laurent Gbagbo
following elections. The latter’s period in office ended
when he was voted out of office in the autumn of 2010,
which ultimately culminated in a brief but bloody civil
war between government troops and the generally
acknowledged winner of the election, Alessane Ouat-
tara and his rebels. Nevertheless: “The bitter battle
between Ouattara and Gbagbo had begun before the
election on November 28 (2010). It had its origins in the
year 2000,” stated the German newspaper Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung on December 23, 2010. For “Mem-
bers of Gbagbo’s party ‘Front populaire ivorien’ (FPI)
and Ouattara’s party ‘Rassemblement des Républicans’
(RDR) were represented in the transitional government
formed by the military (in 1999, following the coup, Ed.).
The election loomed closer – and Ouattara was again
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informed that he could not stand as a candidate.” [5]
Ouattara was seemingly unable to prove that his parents
were clearly of Ivorian origin.
Originally Gbagbo and Ouattara had agreed to boycott
the forthcoming elections. Gbagbo seized the oppor-
tunity, however, and allowed himself to be put forward
as a candidate secure in the knowledge that he had
excellent chances of winning the election against
General Guei. This duel led to a dispute between the
army and paramilitary units. The rebuffed ally Ouat-
tara then called on his followers not to acknowledge
Gbagbo’s election victory. As a consequence, the eco-
nomic center of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, experienced
running battles in the streets on an unprecedented
scale. Even today the number of victims remains un-
clear. The country was threatened with a rift between
north and south, whereby the issue was less that of
religious denomination (the north is predominantly
populated by Muslims, the south is regarded as prima-
rily Christian). Rather the country was divided by issues
such as who could vote, who was allowed to own land,
and how ownership issues were to be regulated [5].
2002 saw another coup, which initially failed. The
situation escalated, however, and there was a whole
series of massacres. Ultimately a civil war broke out
and lasted until 2007, finally splitting the country into
a northern and a southern faction. The atrocities were
so immense that hundreds of thousands of North
Ivorians within the country fled to supposedly safer
areas, many of them to Abidjan. At the same time
Gbagbo incited violence between sections of the
population. The “Jeunes Patriotes” (Young Patriots)
marauded violently in Abidjan, not even refraining from
attacking the then still strong French community. As a
consequence the French military intervened [5].
In 2007 a peace agreement finally brought calm to the
country again. This agreement was preceded by count-
less rounds of negotiations and attempts to broker a
deal; the talks and negotiations were supported and
aided by neighboring African states such as Ghana,
Nigeria and Senegal, whose governments underwent
considerable endeavors to being about a solution. It
was South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki who persu-
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aded Gbagbo to remove the “concept d’ivorité” from
the country’s constitution; and thanks to the mediation
work of the president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaoré,
Gbagbo and Ouattara’s followers headed by their leader
Soro agreed in 2007 to form a transitional government
and hold new elections. These were set and postponed
six times, something which Gbagbo’s opponents always
regarded as manipulation and fresh attempts to cheat
them [5].
The situation remained tense until the elections in
2010, which ultimately led to a new civil war, from which
Ouattara this time emerged as the winner. The most
recent disputes caused untold damage to the cocoa
industry in Côte d’Ivoire. Even several months after
Gbagbo’s resignation the situation in the country was
regarded as unsafe and tense. The “ethnic conflicts”
must still be regarded as unresolved [6].
HIV, malaria, cholera and their
consequences
Moreover, HIV continues to spread across the African
continent, with more and more people dying of AIDS. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) stated in its Health
Statistics Profile for Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, that in
2007 3.9 percent of all 15- to 49-year-olds were infected
with HIV. In 2004 HIV/AIDS was the most common cause
of death (11.5 percent). The highest mortality rate among
children under the age of 5 was posted by malaria in
2008, while in 2007 a further doleful record was reached
with 420,000 children documented as half-orphans or
complete orphans as a consequence of HIV/AIDS [7].
In May 2011 UNICEF Germany ultimately warned: “Thou-
sands of children are at risk from polio, cholera and
malaria. (…) Even now that the armed conflict in Côte
d’Ivoire has ended (…) more than 140,000 refugees in
overcrowded camps in the western part of the country
are desperately dependent on aid. (…) The refugee
camps also face the threat of outbreaks of infectious
diseases such as cholera and malaria. This risk will
intensify during the forthcoming rainy season, as the
softer ground exacerbates the hygiene conditions.”
[8] In June 2011 UNICEF Germany reported: “Following
the outbreak of cholera in the Ivorian capital Abidjan,
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UNICEF has launched a package of aid measures for the
people affected. UNICEF has made available medicines
for the treatment of 1,000 cholera patients, as well as
soap, chlorine and materials for water purification for
400,000 people.” [9]
Lack of “good agricultural practice”
In crisis-ridden countries such as Côte d’Ivoire there are
major gaps in knowledge relating to the care of cocoa
trees: When do plants have to be given fertilizer? When
and how do cocoa trees have to be pruned? How can I
recognize if a plant has been attacked by pests? Which
diseases have to be combatted in which manner? Are
my trees too old? When do I have to begin with rejuve-
nation? What do I have to do to protect the soil, e. g. in
the fight against erosion? When is the fruit ripe? Under
which conditions do I ferment beans in an optimum
manner? When is the fermentation process completed?
How do I dry beans in the right manner?
Above all it is the processing stages following harvesting
– also known as post-harvest treatment – which are
of relevance for food safety issues. For if the beans
are not dried correctly, for example, and are too moist
therefore, molds (mycotoxins) such as the aflatoxins
B1, B2, G1 and G2 as well as ochratoxin A, which can
render whole batches of beans useless in the further
treatment process, may form. Too high a concentration
of free fatty acids (FFA) in cocoa beans is regarded as
a defect which makes them unusable. Studies have
revealed that increased FFA values occur if defective
cocoa beans are removed during sorting or if originally
intact cocoa beans are damaged following harvesting
and not removed. As a consequence, the fermentation
and storage period, and the storage conditions, then
seem to be adversely affected [10, 11].
Such a loss or lack of agricultural professionalism,
coupled with the challenges of monoculture planta-
tions, create barriers to sustainable development that
can scarcely be overcome by many farmers in West
Africa. All in all, therefore, not only does the cocoa
yield remain below the level actually expected, but the
quality of the beans declines, and the harvests are also
non-homogeneous.
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As demand for cocoa beans continues to rise, attention
has to be increasingly focused on environmental issues
in the use of land areas, and at the same time economic
and social issues have to be tackled which will also im-
pact on the global cocoa value-added chain in the future.
In this respect holistic solutions have to be emphasized
to a greater extent. Chris Wille says: “From the outset
we have linked the social and ecological issues and inte-
grated these in a single program. For we had seen that
these things cannot be separated. Clean water: Is this
a social topic or an ecological one? It is both. Education
pertaining to environmental protection? Is this a social
or an environmental issue? It is both.” In this respect it
also has to be clarified whether clamoring to conventio-
nal monocultures makes sense. The Rainforest Alliance,
for example, prefers to attempt to establish agro-
forestry systems with the SAN Standard. Accordingly,
shade trees should be those endemic tree species which
are of economic value to the farmers. Only thus can the
farmer reduce the risk of being dependent on a single
crop plant. Logically enough, the diversification goes
further and encompasses cultivation in agricultural com-
munities. Thus biological crop protection can often be
attained through mixing or crop rotation, and excessive
leaching of the soil can also be prevented.
In the opinion of Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann, head
of the “Trade and Standards” section at Germany’s
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),
Eschborn, the lack of agrarian professionalism has to
be countered with a holistic approach: “One has to com-
bine various steps with one another to be successful.
1. We have to promote the development and expansi-
on of organizational capacities and structures. 2. We
need to promote the farmer as an entrepreneur, have
to educate the entrepreneurial thinking of the farmer,
therefore, which ultimately also includes management
methods for improved agricultural practice. 3. We have
to optimize the agronomic capabilities of the famer and
enhance his productivity.” [12] More cocoa has to be
produced with less land or the same amount of land,
whereby new plant stock may possibly be needed, he
added. “We also have to optimize the use and input
of agrochemicals, and even massively reduce this
input and seek alternatives such as integrated plant
protection management.” [12] And it requires ongoing
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agricultural training activities that are also oriented to
the expansion of capacities. “It will not function without
these in our opinion,” says Schmitz-Hoffmann [12].
Structures, education, finances
Today cocoa is cultivated on an area of some 8 million
hectares in the tropics and secures – according to the
World Cocoa Foundation – the livelihoods of 40 to 50
million people. More than 5 million of them are mainly
small farmers. Of these, some 1.5 million in West Africa,
the most important cocoa-growing region, tend land
with an average size of just 3 to 4 hectares. Nowadays
a farmer has to feed a family of eight as a rule [13].
Such families frequently live exclusively from cocoa
farming and processing, and are thus dependent on a
single fruit.
Experts are in agreement that in cocoa farming the crop
yield per hectare of land has to and can be increased
by a clear margin. On the assumption of an average of
400 kilograms per hectare, then improved plant care
alone could increase the yield by 120 kilograms. If new
plants were used, agricultural experts forecast that
there could then be a further increase of 200 kilograms.
While a farmer in Côte d’Ivoire today earns 297 US dollars
per hectare (basic costs already deducted), with an
investment of between some 150 and a maximum of
410 US dollars, he could attain a per hectare revenue
of 727 US dollars. In neighboring Ghana the additional
earnings could be even higher: Based on an income of
379 US dollars per hectare (costs already deducted),
with the same investment range he could attain earnings
of 929 US dollars per hectare. One obstacle to such
investment is often the fact that the farmers lack the
necessary funds. The farmers used to be granted loans
which they were able to repay following harvesting and
the sale of the raw goods. With the coming into effect
of the progressively tougher Basel regulations, for
example, it became increasingly difficult for the small
farmers of Africa to find the necessary funding. Banks
will no longer grant them loans.
Rabobank ascertained in 2010 that small farmers in
the Third World are not as a rule “creditworthy” and
that 90 percent of cocoa production thus has to be
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classified as “non-bankable”. Associated with this are
obstacles such as a lack of clarity regarding land titles
and questions relating to land ownership, a complete
lack of documentation of the individual financial situa-
tion or individual productivity and reliability, as well as
a lack of access to a regulated financial system. Thus
in some countries legislation fails to meet the needs of
the financial sector. For example, there is no legislation
or only insufficient legislation subjecting the banking
system to state regulation, monitoring and supervision.
In addition, many farmers do not understand what the
banks are demanding from them or why. There is a lack
of the necessary financial market knowledge, which
every entrepreneur today is obliged to acquire or buy
in – however small his operations may be [14].
Thus it is often the case that family and friends help out
– where possible – with informal loans. Or middlemen
take on the role of the banks, whereby the farmers are
thus often forced into dependence: Financial input takes
place against agrarian output. Cash flows only with
disproportionately high interest rates. There is often a
lack of transparency.
For this reason alternative financing models, such
as the awarding of microcredits at fair conditions by
acknowledged third parties, appear to be an option.
Many people have therefore called for a restructuring
of cocoa cultivation, away from small farmer structures
and towards plantation-like growing methods, such as
those seen in Latin America. Thus the efficiency of the
operations could also be increased [14].
But Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann does not believe this to
be possible: “It will not be possible to produce cocoa
in West Africa with large-scale plantations. There is not
one single indication that such an undertaking com-
bined with the necessary land structure reforms could
succeed. This means that there is no alternative to
small farmer production mechanisms for the time being.
We will certainly reinforce the existing small farmer
structures, and in this context there will have to be
alternative forms to classical cooperatives.” [12]
To make matters worse the general level of education
in the majority of farming families is inadequate. On
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the whole the literacy rate of the population in Côte
d’Ivoire is only just over 40 percent, despite the fact
that school attendance is obligatory [15]. A lack of
financial resources and poor infrastructure makes it im-
possible for many children and young people to attend
school. In many villages in Côte d’Ivoire there is quite
simply no school and there is not one in the immediate
vicinity. And the existence of a school does not by a
long way mean that there are also teachers or teaching
materials there.
A study commissioned by the Ivorian government in
2008 examined numerous essential infrastructure
aspects with the focus on the local cocoa economy. In
the final report Côte d’Ivoire acknowledged the need for
development in several areas: Thus 72 percent of the
villages have no access to basic health care; 61 percent
of the villages cannot be reached by road at times; only
some 28 percent of the villages are less than ten kilo-
meters from the nearest sub-prefecture or municipal
administration, meaning that the majority of villages
lie outside administrative access. This means that road
construction, health and medical care, school operations
and also access for the villages to the country’s cocoa
market are scarcely guaranteed. 47 percent of the
villages do not have regular markets or have no market
at all where their residents can buy food. 53 percent of
the villages have no electricity, and only 15 percent of
all households are connected to the electricity network.
A mere 40 percent of the villages have access to clean
drinking water. [16]
Rural exodus and pragmatism
For some time now more and more young people have
been leaving their villages, with the effect that the
farming community is aging drastically. The motivating
reasons stated by young adults for leaving their villages
are: Problems with access to school education; the fact
that there is no possibility to learn a profession; low
wages. Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann from Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) says: “The devel-
opment of this rural exodus is thought-provoking. But it
is not untypical, and we have to regard it analogously to
the international trends in many developing countries
which originally had strong agricultural structures and
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which suddenly saw industrial growth. If the cocoa-
growing agricultural sector is quite simply no longer
attractive and alternatives develop on a permanent basis
in other sectors of the economy, it will not be possible
to halt the trend towards migration.” [12] In the opinion
of Schmitz-Hoffmann the pragmatism of the population
in West Africa has long been underestimated. In other
African countries one has been able to observe how
farmers have rapidly turned their back on coffee growing
because alternatives appear attractive from an economic
stance. After a number of years, however, the coffee
prices rose again, with the effect that there was a return
to coffee growing. It was no longer possible, however,
to use the neglected and overgrown coffee plantations,
and completely new plantations had to be created.
It would be desirable to see developments such as
those observed in part in Latin America: An increase in
the level of education among the rural population was
accompanied by more graduates from agro-economical
and agro-ecological faculties. The graduate agronomists
later took over the farms from their fathers and managed
these successfully with considerably more profession-
alism. Schmitz-Hoffmann: “That would certainly be the
silver bullet.” Yet he provides food for thought: “These
are structural developments which are not successful
if based on individual activities. All the protagonists in
the cocoa industry are urgently required to take action:
The state, society and the business world have to work
together closely so as to successfully combat the phe-
nomenon of rural exodus.” [12]
Exploitative child labor
Cocoa cultivation is often associated with the worst
forms of child labor. Exploitative child labor continues
to be a problem. Moreover, it is suspected that some of
these children – albeit a small proportion – and above
all young males, work as forced laborers, and in particu-
lar in Côte d’Ivoire. They come from even poorer coun-
tries such as Benin, Mali, Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
But how can this be tackled effectively when exploita-
tive child labor is also discovered in Fairtrade opera-
tions, as the BBC TV format “Panorama” reported on
March 24, 2010? The producers of this English current
affairs format had discovered and found: “(…) that
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there is no guarantee, despite safeguards, even with
chocolate marketed as Fairtrade, that child labour –
as defined by the International Labour Organi-zation
(ILO) – has not been involved in the supply chain.”
[17] Something which even today is confirmed by the
documents of the Fairtrade Labeling Organization
[18, 19].
In order to jointly combat the worst forms of child labor
on cocoa farms in parts of West Africa, a framework-
setting agenda was negotiated more than a decade
ago in the form of a protocol. It came about with the
participation of the US politicians Harkin and Engel
together with Côte d’Ivoire, the cocoa processing and
chocolate manufacturing industry (the members of the
U.S. Chocolate Marketing Association), and the WCF, and
was ultimately signed as an agreement in September
2001. This was the birth of the Harkin-Engel Protocol
(also known as the “Cocoa Protocol”) [20]. The parties
agreed, inter alia, to implement six key points:
• T he provision of “significant resources” so as to tackle
the problem of exploitative child labor.
• By October 2001: The foundation of an “Advisory
Group”.
• By December 2001: The signing of a joint statement
which again makes clear the urgency of the matter
at hand.
• By 2002: The establishment of an action program
so as to implement standards to eliminate the worst
forms of child labor, and, additionally, the provision
of funds to monitor and document compliance with
such standards.
• By 2002: The establishment of a non-profit foundation
which brings together the business and non-industry
partners so as to combat the worst forms of child labor
within the cocoa supply chain.
• By July 2005: The development and implementation
of standards for public certification, which proves that
cocoa has indeed been, and will be, grown without
exploitative child labor.
Pursuant to Point 5 and so as to coordinate the tasks
and obligations on the part of industry arising from the
other points, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) was
founded.
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It is important to know that in past years the content of
the Harkin-Engel Protocol has repeatedly been inter-
preted differently – depending on who was advocating
a particular standpoint. Accordingly, the achievements
have also repeatedly been judged differently.
In its most recent report, published in March 2011,
the Payson Center for International Development and
Technology Transfer at Tulane University in the USA
arrives at the conclusion that the measures adopted
by the ICI had not, on the whole, been successful. The
plans of action were, it stated, not suited to exposing
and effectively tackling slave labor, child trafficking
and other forms of exploitative child labor, adding
that there was a lack of the necessary close monitor-
ing. Likewise, it stated, there was no institutionalized
transfer of knowledge in the communities affected, with
too little being invested in local alliances. Ultimately, it
adds, the ICI has activated fewer cooperation partners
in Côte d’Ivoire than in Ghana, which is affected to a
much lesser degree by exploitative child labor and
forced labor. The Payson Center had prepared this and
three other prior reports (also called Tulane Reports) on
behalf of the U. S. Department of Labor in the previous
four and a half years.
Industry and all those who implemented the protocol
see a number of successes, however. At the same time
all the involved parties repeatedly describe the obsta-
cles which frequently slow down the pace of imple-
mentation. What implementation work has to (should)
be performed by whom, where and how so as to tackle
exploitative child labor in Côte d’Ivoire and in Ghana?
Given the complexity of the intertwined factors that
bring about exploitative child labor, this is a major chal-
lenge. If it is to be successfully combatted, the support
and concerted efforts of all areas of society are required.
A key aspect – and one which this press service has also
deliberated elsewhere. Thus, industry has bemoaned
the fact that there has not been and still is no concrete
implementation agenda jointly approved by the stake-
holders. In this respect, alternative cross-sector initia-
tives appear all the more meaningful. For some time now
more and more of these have been receiving support
from industry, and also from diverse UN organizations,
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NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and national
governments or organizations close to government. They
all pursue more holistic implementation concepts. For
exploitative child labor is more a symptom than a cause,
and it is not restricted to one industry alone. The fact that
at the end of a reporting and observation phase lasting
four and a half years the Payson Center is able to point
out minor areas of friction and call for improvements is
not a surprise. For when the protocol was signed by the
participants, it was not possible to even suspect many
of the pitfalls that would appear and which set-backs
would still have to be overcome. Given the perennially
unstable situation in Côte d’Ivoire in the period between
2001 and 2011, it is all the more astounding that the
cocoa economy there has not collapsed entirely.
In all events the economic situation of the communi-
ties in many of the world’s tropical regions has to be
improved decisively and poverty has to be successfully
combatted. On this point all the involved parties are in
agreement.
In Convention 182 the ILO defines exploitative child
labor thus:
“Convention 182, Article 2
For the purposes of this Convention, the term child
shall apply to all persons under the age of 18.
 
Article 3
For the purposes of this Convention, the term the worst
forms of child labour comprises:
(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery,
such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt
bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory
labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment
of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prosti-
tution, for the production of pornography or for
pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit
activities, in particular for the production and
trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant inter-
national treaties;
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Continuation, Convention 182, Article 3
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in
which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health,
safety or morals of children.” [21]
But this does not mean that young people in particular
may not help their parents on the family farm – in the
same way that young people in Europe frequently con-
tinue to help out in the agricultural sector. Secondary
school-leavers in Germany also begin apprenticeships
whilst still in their childhood as defined by the ILO.
Thus in Convention 138 the ILO laid down rules for the
minimum age of workers:
“Convention 138, Article 2
(…)
2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention
may subsequently notify the Director-General of the
International Labour Office, by further declarations,
that it specifies a minimum age higher than that
previously specified.
3. The minimum age specified in pursuance of para-
graph 1 of this Article shall not be less than the age
of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any
case, shall not be less than 15 years.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 3 of this
Article, a Member whose economy and educational
facilities are insufficiently developed may, after con-
sultation with the organisations of employers and
workers concerned, where such exist, initially specify
a minimum age of 14 years.
5. Each Member which has specified a minimum age
of 14 years in pursuance of the provisions of the
preceding paragraph shall include in its reports on
the application of this Convention submitted under
article 22 of the Constitution of the International
Labour Organisation a statement:
(a) that its reason for doing so subsists; or
(b) t hat it renounces its right to avail itself of the
provisions in question as from a stated date.
Article 3
1. The minimum age for admission to any type of employ-
ment or work which by its nature or the circumstances
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in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardise the
health, safety or morals of young persons shall not
be less than 18 years.
2. The types of employment or work to which paragraph 1
of this Article applies shall be determined by national
laws or regulations or by the competent authority,
after consultation with the organisations of employers
and workers concerned, where such exist.
3. N otwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of
this Article, national laws or regulations or the com-
petent authority may, after consultation with the
organisations of employers and workers concerned,
where such exist, authorise employment or work as
from the age of 16 years on condition that the health,
safety and morals of the young persons concerned
are fully protected and that the young persons have
received adequate specific instruction or vocation-
al training in the relevant branch of activity.” [22]
In 2010 extensive studies were conducted in Côte
d’Ivoire on behalf of the International Cocoa Initiative
(ICI) as to how effective child protection could be fa-
cilitated [23]. These dealt above all with sociocultural
aspects such as: Which norms and values are applica-
ble to the village communities involved in the cocoa
economy? How can child protection take place in the
framework of this canon of values? What is the signifi-
cance of the expressions child, adult, young and old in
these communities, which are often characterized by
long traditions?
In the studies it became evident that there is no, and
never will be a “magic formula” for effective child
protection in the cocoa-growing areas. The experts
believe it is quite ineffective attempting to achieve any
sustainable success in the fight against exploitative
child labor on the basis of decrees banning the practice.
For in the course of the in-depth interviews conducted
locally it quickly became clear: The communities often
know very precisely what the countries in the “rich
North” understand by child labor and exploitative
child labor. And thus likewise “child labor” is officially
not condoned in the villages. Nevertheless, tradition-
ally there is a very different understanding of “young”
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and “old”, of “being a child” and “being an adult”. In
this respect the specific cultural identities of the village
or tribe also play a major role. This includes the social
status of families, the role of the child in the family and
in the village, as well as the observation and develop-
ment of a child in conjunction with traditional customs
and rites.
For the Dida people in the southern province of South
Bandama, for example, the concept of “being a child”
ends when the child reaches the age of ten or twelve.
Children are introduced to activities and work at an early
age by their parents. For that reason the children accom-
pany their parents and learn by observing. They may
perform practical tasks, and even perform dangerous
work if they are capable of doing so. In this respect
they often want to signalize their putative maturity.
For from an early age a child is traditionally oriented
to serving the needs of the “family”. This may be the
child’s own household, close or distant relatives, the
tribal group or the village community. Such a stance is
also found in other ethnic groups: “What the child is
capable of doing is what I ask him to do.” (Eugénie, a
woman of around 60 years of age from the Baloué group
with eleven children of her own) [23].
The ICI study report also arrives at the conclusion, there-
fore, that imposed “top-down solutions” will change
very little: “Any change in practice can only come from
work on concrete local systems of interaction.” [23] The
report adds that it would appear that consideration of
local rules could be helpful in better adapting deve-
lopment programs; in particular in comparison to such
concepts which originate from a different sociocultural
heritage, such as Europe for example.
On this Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann says: “From our
stance we can confirm that the use of child labor is
deeply rooted in the West African culture and the prob-
lematization of how we judge differing forms of child
labor often meets with incomprehension there. Taking
this as a reason to accept exploitative child labor, how-
ever, would be the biggest mistake possible and is not
appropriate either.” [12] He adds that in a project in
Côte d’Ivoire financed by Germany it has been seen
that this cultural attitude can by all means be broken.
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“By working together seriously and closely with the
people and illustrating to them the immense dangers
posed to children by exploitative labor and the perma-
nent damage to health this can cause for children.” [12]
It is a mistake, however, he adds, to attribute the entire
responsibility for successful elimination of exploitative
child labor solely to the cocoa processing and chocolate
manufacturing industry. “In other countries, for example
in Thailand, we have seen what this can lead to: They
suppress the worst forms of child labor in one industry
and then have to experience how it suddenly flourishes
in other industries. There is always this phenomenon
of evasion, right down to child prostitution, as we have
been able to observe at the end of an escalation chain
in Thailand.” [12]
III. Promotion of sustainability in the
production and procurement of cocoa
Vertical initiatives
In the recent past non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), western companies and development orga-
nizations have launched a number of initiatives to
promote socially-responsible and environmentally-
compatible cocoa production. Amongst these initiatives
are sustainability standards, programs for the develop-
ment of capacities, and in particular projects to tackle
exploitative child labor [24]. Voluntary sustainability
standards have attained significance right across the
food value-added chain [25]. In cocoa production the
expected increase in certified cocoa is very promising
(see Illustration 3). The most widespread certifiable
sustainability standards in the cocoa industry are:
Fairtrade, Organic/Bio, Rainforest Alliance Certified and
Utz Certified. All the standards support the sustain-
able use of resources, health, wage levels and labor
standards in accordance with the ILO conventions (e. g.
no child labor or enforced labor, freedom of association,
ban on discrimination), trading practices and market
transparency [24]. In this respect Fairtrade attaches
particular significance to social issues, minimum prices
and bonuses; Organic/Bio emphasizes environmen-
tal quality and sustainable manufacturing practices;
Rainforest Alliance Certified attaches special signifi-
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Cocoa production (beans in 1,000 tonnes)
500
400
300
200
100
0
2009 2010
Illustration 3: Based on Tropical Commodity Coalition TCC 2010, 2011
cance to the protection of eco-systems, water and soil,
as well as to the protection of biodiversity, but also
to market transparency, farm management and social
aspects. Utz Certified is particularly committed to the
promotion of product quality and traceability [25].
Certifications
Based on a harvested cocoa volume of 3.5 million
tonnes, in 2009 ca. 100,000 tonnes of cocoa – 3 percent
of the global market – were certified by one or more of
the standard-setting organizations. The market share of
certified cocoa has risen considerably since 2009, and
this trend will continue in the near future. Illustration
3 shows the cocoa volume currently certified to the
most important standards and which is expected to be
certified through to the year 2020. It shows that the
highest growth rates are expected at the Rainforest Alli-
ance and Utz: With a low starting level of 13,000 tonnes
(Rainforest Alliance) and 5,000 tonnes (Utz) in 2009,
both standards forecast the certification of 500,000
tonnes in 2020. With 56,000 tonnes alone for 2010 the
Rainforest Alliance reports that the volume of cocoa pro-
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2015: Estimation 2020: Estimation
Fairtrade Organic Rainforest Alliance UTZ Certified
duced by certified farms has trebled within just twelve
months. Utz was able to surpass this: In its annual report
for 2010 the organization documents more than 70,000
tonnes, although other sources speak of merely 40,000
tonnes. Fairtrade, which certified 65,000 tonnes in 2009,
will also increase its volume (see also Illustration 4). In
contrast, it is expected that Organic/Bio will decline in
significance compared to other standards. According to
an estimate by ICCO the proportion of organic cocoa will
steadfastly remain at a volume of some 15,500 tonnes,
although the ICCO attests to strong growth in global
demand for organic chocolate. There is only general
speculation as to why this is the case. One cogent
explanation could be the fact that given the diverse
challenges that predominate in the sector Organic/Bio
covers too small a number of solutions in cocoa growing.
Those intending to implement a truly holistic program
– one that is there-fore an environmental, social and,
at the same time, economic program – would have to
strive for the combined implementation of Organic/Bio
and an additional certification that covers social and
economic factors. Such a double certification means
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Certified sustainable cocoa production
UTZ Certified Rainforest Alliance Certified
40,000 56,000
tonnes tonnes
Tonnes 2010 Tonnes 2010
Illustration 3: Based on Armajaro Trading, details from organizations, and estimates, 2011
disproportionately higher costs, however – in the most
unfavorable case certification fees would have to be
paid twice.
A fundamental question is whether the growth prog-
noses for goods of a certifiable origin will endure. For
it appears as if the expected tonnages at Utz and the
Rainforest Alliance, as well as at Fairtrade, have, above
all, been projected from the commitments given
by large brand-name manufacturers. “This is what
GIZ also assumes,” says Carsten Schmitz-Hofmann [12].
Moreover, there is also the issue of how the crops from
producer groups which are certified by Rainforest Alli-
ance as well as Utz and also Fairtrade are to be treated
in empirical terms. If such a producer group supplies
1,000 tonnes of cocoa, it has to be ensured that this
volume is not accredited 1:1 to all three sustainability
standards. Otherwise the market ultimately has more
certified goods in statistical terms than actually exist.
For this reason, the only measure can be the actual sales
of demonstrably certified goods.
GIZ also fears there will be a competition by the buyers
to secure the crops from certified producer groups: “It is
our experience that in many cocoa producing countries
of West Africa there is only a limited number of truly
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Fair Trade
137,655
tonnes
Estimate tonnes 2010/2011
functional cooperatives and producer organizations.
As such organizations are necessary for the anticipated
and desired certification process it is to be assumed that
there will in all likelihood be a competition for coopera-
tion with these cooperatives. This is an experience we
have unfortunately seen in our own projects,” reports
Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann [12]. He adds that this will
in all probability lead to there being the corresponding
double and even triple certifications: “… because this
is the easiest way to be in a position to make available
quantifiable volumes of certified cocoa to the market
more quickly and with less investment. Naturally this
does not solve the actual quantity problems.” [12] GIZ
therefore believes it necessary that cooperation with
new producers und producer organizations be moved
forward. This would also encompass the further devel-
opment of fundamental structures. It is above all this
and cooperation with new producer groups which are
at the heart of numerous initiatives.
This also entails all areas of society learning to accept
that the proven sustainably produced raw materials
will only gradually be available in substantial amounts.
Thus at Fairtrade it is sufficient if 20 percent of a main
ingredient for a multiple-ingredient product such as
chocolate or a biscuit containing chocolate originates
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from certified plantations [26]. At Utz Certified this figure
is currently as low as 10 percent. Elena Binkhuijsen,
responsible at Utz Certified for Marketing and Com-
munication, explains: “We regard certification as an
efficient means of scalable transfer of knowledge. Thus
good agricultural practice and the business maturity of
farmers are established as standards across the entire
delivery chain. The focus lies on improvement in the
core business – namely an increase in productivity and
in cocoa quality, because this strengthens the position
and independence of the farmers in the market.” [27] For
the successful dissemination of knowledge (up-scaling),
it is important, she adds, to cooperate with all those
protagonists with local expertise and who are pursuing
similar goals. “This is why we regard companies along
the supply chain as strategic partners. Firstly, they are
represented through their procurement structures local-
ly, therefore coming into contact with farmers’ organiza-
tions; secondly, they also have the financial means and
a vested interest in improving practices.” [27]
Utz Certified intends, therefore, to facilitate the entry
into the process towards more sustainability without
sacrificing any quality or losing credibility. At the farmer
level the ‘Code of Conduct’ is based on the principle
of continuous improvement. This means that from the
first year onwards basic rules for quality and security
have to be guaranteed, and in the following years these
would be followed by continuative sustainability require-
ments. Binkhuijsen adds: “Chocolate manufacturers
are offered, under strict conditions, the possibility to
advertise products with the so-called commitment claim
‘on the path to sustainability’. This requires a minimum
coverage of 10 percent initially, the commitment to shift
to 100 percent within a defined period, reporting on prog-
ress attained, and investment to expand the offering of
certified cocoa.” [27]
Fundamental initiatives
Some processors and traders have also launched special
programs to train farmers in production methods, the
sustainable use of resources, and other requirements
which are also necessary for compliance with sustain-
ability standards [24]. This is taking place in part in
cooperation with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF),
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with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF),
and with organizations such as GIZ and USAID, which
promote development cooperation. The initiatives are
partly conceived as public-private partnerships (PPP) or
as cross-sector long-term programs such as the Sustain-
able Tree Crops Program (STCP).
For example a food manufacturer, in cooperation with
GIZ, the Rainforest Alliance and a local partner in the
framework of a PPP project in Ecuador, had incorporated
3,000 cocoa farmers in six communities into a training
program. This program was aimed at improving cultiva-
tion practices and the drying and fermenting technology.
In addition, the farmers were qualified in further training
measures, learning how to sell the Rainforest Alliance
Certified cocoa they had produced at a premium price
[28]. GIZ and the manufacturer concerned have launched
several cooperation projects of this kind, some of which
are with traders, e. g. in Côte d’Ivoire. The cooperation
between GIZ and manufacturers is conducted in part
across all the food sectors and goes back to projects
in Latin America in the 1990s, with which sustainable
coffee growing was promoted above all at that time.
These cooperation initiatives in a number of regions
were an important motor for a further fundamental
initiative: The Common Code for the Coffee Community
(4C Codex) [25], which cannot, however, be transferred
one to one – neither from the stance of the cocoa indus-
try nor in the opinion of GIZ – to the needs of sustainable
cocoa production.
The Sustainable Tree Crops Program was started by
the WCF, the global cocoa processing and chocolate
manufacturing industry, together with numerous Euro-
pean and US state institutions and NGOs, with the goal
of reaching 150,000 cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire,
Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia and Nigeria, and training
them in “good agricultural practice”. This is intended
to increase productivity, to optimize market access and
efficiency in the marketing chain, to tap income alter-
natives through diversification, e. g. with agro-forestry
concepts, to improve the regulative framework, and to
support know-how transfer.
The Cocoa Livelihoods Program is a joint initiative of
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation together with in-
dustrial market participants. Endowed with a budget of
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40 million US dollars, the program is to train 200,000
farmers in five Central and West African countries, with
the aim of placing one third of all African cocoa farmers
in a position to double their incomes.
Furthermore, a series of other fundamental programs
have been established by the cocoa trading and process-
ing industry in the meantime, including Source Trust
from Armajaro, Serap from ADM, Pacts from Blommer,
Cemoi and Petra Foods or Partennaire de Qualité from
Barry Callebaut. Their financial resources also allows
producers and producer groups to put in place urgently
needed infrastructure such as the construction of wells
and roads, to conduct essential investments in agricul-
tural products such as seeds, seedlings, fertilizers and
equipment, to finance schools and procure mosquito
nets as a cost-favorable and extremely effective solution
in the fight against malaria. Moreover, the programs
provide important, and also financial, incentives to
professionalize production methods in the long term.
Kerry Turner, Manager of Source Trust at the cocoa trader
Armajaro in London: “Armajaro provides cocoa farmers
with the training and support necessary to reach the
standards required for certification, most commonly
Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance Certified or Utz Certified.”
[29] In collaboration with one of its customers and the
development organizations GIZ and USAID, in Côte
d’Ivoire Armajaro has brought about the first sustainably
produced cocoa in accordance with Rainforest Alliance
Certified certification. “We have since become one of
the largest traders of certified cocoa,” says Turner. “We
have recognized however, that some chocolate makers
wish to be involved in the development of sustainable
cocoa without the badge of certification.” [29] While
certifications could help farmers to attain a higher sum
per tonne of cocoa, these were not always associated
with comprehensive support packages to accompany
the farmers in the implementation of measures on the
path to a higher yield. Turner adds: “This is why in 2009
Armajaro founded the non-profit organization Source
Trust. It is intended to help farmers improve their liveli-
hoods through better crop yields and quality, achieved
through sustainable farming practices.” [29]
All this shows that major multinational companies which
market a wide range of foods can play an important and
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stimulating role in conveying sustainable practices right
across the food value-added chains.
360 degree perspective
Another important sustainability initiative in the cocoa
industry is the Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa
Economy (RSCE), which was launched in 2007 by the
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), and which is
headed by an independent working group with repre-
sentatives of the most important stakeholder groups.
The objective of the roundtable is the establishment of
a participatory and transparent process so as to work
towards economic, environmental and social sustain-
ability in the global cocoa economy. The first roundtable
in 2007 in Ghana brought together more than 200 stake-
holders from 25 countries, including cocoa farmers,
government representatives from cocoa producing and
consuming countries, traders, chocolate manufacturers,
donor organizations, as well as national and interna-
tional NGOs. The second roundtable in Trinidad and
Tobago was unfortunately not able to bring about the
desired results. In order to achieve a consensus on the
necessary agreements, the dialog is to be continued at
the planned World Cocoa Conference in Côte d’Ivoire in
the autumn of 2012.
Such initiatives at international level are, on the whole,
an important factor in the process of promoting sustain-
ability. Nevertheless, international agreements also
have their limitations compared to multi-stakeholder
projects and standard initiatives.
IV. Challenges in the promotion
of sustainability
It is important to consider how much certified cocoa the
major manufacturers are prepared to buy – namely both
now and in the future. On the whole the strategies of the
manufacturers regarding product labeling are important
driving factors for certification of sustainable produc-
tion, yet may also entail constraints. What will happen
if sustainably produced products are not convincing for
consumers and these cannot be acquired as buyers,
and if they cannot visibly establish themselves in the
mainstream, in the mass-market trade channels? Will the
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consumer be prepared at some point to pay a suitable
– and therefore higher – price for products proven to
have been produced sustainably? Will the manufacturers
then refrain from explicitly praising the certification?
Could that clearly weaken the current acceleration of
the dynamism towards sustainable agriculture? Or are
the fundamental needs so great that the sustainable
development of the cocoa economy will be successful
in all events?
In recent years a number of quantitative impact studies
in the cocoa industry have been conducted by develop-
ment organizations, universities and think-tanks so as
to measure the success of the current sustainability
initiatives, as well as discuss their major limitations
and challenges [30–32]. In general, certification and
training programs have been able to improve the over-
all qualification of farmers, promote more sustainable
manufacturing practices, and increase product quality
and prices at the participating farms [24, 33]. The WCF
also assumes that agricultural efficiency and yield can
easily be increased by 20 to 30 percent per hectare of
cocoa cultivation.
Nevertheless only 3 percent of cocoa production is
currently certified and only 10 percent of farmers have
received suitable education so as to qualify for certifi-
cation [24]. Moreover, only 70 percent of the certified
cocoa is sold as certified (including 15 percent which is
actually certified more than once). 30 percent is sold
through other channels, e. g. as “conventional goods”
on the stock exchange [24]. And although special pro-
grams against exploitative child labor and forced labor
have contributed to alleviating these practices, child
trafficking, in particular in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana for in-
stance, has not been systematically rooted out by a long
way [31]. This is, however, not just a problem in the cocoa
industry. The ILO-outlawed practices are also preva-
lent in the fishing and mining industries. This applies
to West Africa just as it does to other developing and
threshold countries throughout the world. In some of
these cases the problem of exploitative child labor was
also solely restricted to “cleansing” the global supply
chains of this controversial practice. This happened
partly so as to protect the reputations of companies in-
volved and without tackling the fundamental problems,
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for example inadequate wages and poor working condi-
tions, as was documented in the leather ball industry in
Asia [34]. Carsten Schmitz-Hoffmann rightly points out
that isolated solutions do not help and that exploitative
practices at best are shifted from one industry to another
(“evasion reaction”) [12].
That the cocoa industry is taking the battle against the
worst forms of child labor seriously can be seen in an
ILO press release from September 2011: Accordingly
eight companies from the cocoa and chocolate industry
provided the International Labour Organization with a
budget of 2 million US dollars for a joint PPP project.
Thus the endeavors to protect children are to be further
strengthened in effective terms. The new project is part
of a higher-level initiative being coordinated with the
“U. S. Department of Labor” and covering a sum of 17
million US dollars [35].
Uncertainty over sustainable demand
The global cocoa sector has certain features which can
influence the efficacy of initiatives to bring about more
sustainability and responsibility. The cocoa suppliers
are heavily dependent on market strategies and the
demands of the chocolate manufacturers. Only if the
manufacturers continue to buy an increasing percent-
age of their volume as certified cocoa do traders and
farmers have an incentive to commit themselves to
sustainability standards. The lack of direct access on the
part of farmers to cocoa processors and manufacturers
can also prevent them from attaining a truly better price
for sustainable agriculture. In the existing chain with
intermediaries the farmers generally earn only a fraction
of the market price of cocoa, as the middlemen add a
margin to the previous price with every successive sale.
A study in Cameroon suggests that farmers only earn
8 to 25 percent of the average world market price per
kilogram of cocoa which they sell at harvest time [36].
For Côte d’Ivoire, in contrast, the figures are assumed to
be different: The farmer receives as much as one third
of the market price, one third goes to the state in the
form of taxes, and the remaining third is accounted for
by weight loss (e.g. water loss due to further drying),
logistics costs, funding costs and additional fees to
the middleman, including the so-called pisteurs and
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traitants, some of whom are members of the clan chiefs’
families which head village communities, as well as by
price mark-ups on the part of the exporters.
Economic obstacles
In this regard farmers, and especially in West Africa, are
faced with local economic challenges, which – if they
are overcome – can have a positive impact on sustain-
ability initiatives. Firstly, due to a lack of communications
and transport infrastructure, the farmers are often badly
informed about cocoa prices. Thus the local prices paid
by the traders vary greatly between the distant farms
within a country [36] – be it due to high transport costs,
be it due to a lack of information. Secondly, farmers
often have restricted access to the capital necessary
for investment in certification [30, 24] yet which is also
fundamentally required for cocoa growing.
If banks are not prepared to provide cash, programs
such as Source Trust from Armajaro have been of help
of late. Nevertheless, other independent microcredit
models should, as already mentioned, also ensure as-
sistance. In all events more and more farmers require
capital from outside the banking sector. And very often
this is all the more urgent as the trend toward multiple
certifications is increasing, something which is deemed
to be a direct consequence of the competition between
standards and a lack of consolidation of the standards
initiatives [25]. Here the statement signed jointly by
Fairtrade, the Sustainable Agriculture Network/Rain-
forest Alliance and Utz Certified in Geneva in February
2011 is a source of hope: Accordingly the three programs
intend to achieve closer coordination in the future so as
to successfully push ahead the change from conven-
tional to sustainable agriculture. A fundamental state-
ment in the joint declaration is also that the programs
acknowledge and mutually respect their differences, and
regard the diversity of possible solutions and options as
an excellent path so that farmers might find a suitable
and marketable solution [37]. This was followed in the
same year by a new project, named “Certification Capac-
ity Enhancement” (CCE), which is being implemented
with GIZ. With this project the three standard-setting
initiatives have committed themselves to developing
joint, uniform training documents for the cocoa farmers
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of West Africa. Alongside this, the European cocoa and
chocolate industry has – since 2011 – been supporting a
European standard for cocoa sustainability, which is to
be elaborated with the European Committee for Stand-
ardization (CEN). Harmonized standards are important
because they also give all the participants along the
value-added chain reliable and improved orientation.
The new International Cocoa Agreement:
A sustainable solution?
While on the one hand voluntary private and multi-
stakeholder initiatives have attained some progress in
improving the income opportunities for cocoa farmers
and in tackling forced labor, some observers criticize
that the current initiatives are too slow, and too limited
to boot, adding that the endeavors are only focused
on certain regions while other regions are neglected.
Instead of which, so the argumentation, an internation-
al legal framework is necessary so as to guarantee a
systematic improvement in the situation for the cocoa
farmers [32].
On the other hand, and because the last International
Cocoa Agreement had expired, in June 2010 a new Inter-
national Cocoa Agreement was signed at the UN Cocoa
Conference in Geneva. The agreement was signed by 14
export nations and 29 importing countries, as well as the
European Union. These signatories together account for
more than 60 percent of global cocoa consumption and
more than 80 percent of global cocoa production [38].
The agreement will come into effect in 2012 and is valid
for ten years. It may be extended for two additional
four-year periods. In the meantime a number of other
states have also ratified the agreement.
Main objective: Joint solutions along the
entire supply and value-added chain
The main objective of the agreement is greater coopera-
tion between exporting and importing member countries
and promotion of a capacity expansion. It defines the
criteria for a sustainable cocoa economy and insists on
more market transparency, in particular through the
collection, processing and distribution of data from
both private and public sources, and through greater
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cooperation between the ICCO and the private sector.
The agreement confirms the necessary aspiration for
“fair”, and therefore market-driven, cocoa prices so as to
facilitate better income opportunities for the farmers. In
this respect the agreement does not include any pricing
or volume guarantees as experts have repeatedly made
it clear that price guarantees cannot function anyway in
a globalized economy.
In addition, the (higher) price is only one of many fac-
tors which can ensure better incomes for farmers. A
more stable and higher crop yield per se, diversification
into other agricultural bush and tree crops, as well as
into timber, yet also supplementary offerings such as
art and handicrafts and tourist offerings such as the
operation of a guest house on the farm premises can
be meaningful options so as to become less dependent
on just one fruit. Not all aspects are equally applicable
in all cocoa-growing regions. But many projects in Latin
America have shown that the diversification concept
can be successful. Aside from this, the agreement is
also intended to ensure that the quality of the cocoa
beans is enhanced.
While the agreement reflects the current endeavors of
several stakeholders towards greater fairness and sus-
tainability along the global cocoa value-added chain, it
also points to the typical limitations of “intergovernmen-
tal regulations” in the modern age. Given the conflicting
interests of the producing and consuming countries, yet
also as a result of experiences with failed agreements
in other fields, this agreement is consciously vague
and been left open to interpretation. In contrast to the
International Coffee Agreement (ICA), which was in ef-
fect until 1989, for instance, the new cocoa agreement
does not attempt to lay down export quotas or stabilize
prices. The ICA ultimately failed because it contradicted
the policy of market liberalization in certain consumer
countries and because the producer countries increas-
ingly negotiated with non-member states on market
prices that were lower than the prices laid down by the
ICA, and thus undermined the agreement [39, 40]. The
other side of the coin with such a more open agreement
is the lack of commitment to specific measures, stand-
ards and targets, and thus a lack of regulative force.
For this reason the agreement is to be regarded as
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more of an initiative at macro level which supplements
other agreements at meso and macro level with the par-
ticipation of governments, as well as NGOs, standards
organizations and companies.
Amplifiers: The cocoa agreement
as a precursor for further accords with a
binding and obligatory character
In light of the new accord, a recent long-term agreement
between the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the Rainforest Alliance sounds highly
promising. The main objective of the joint project
“Greening the Cocoa Industry” is a sustainable change
in the customary production practices to date in major
cocoa-growing countries. The project is also intended
to facilitate greater and more long-term stability for
all participants along the value-added chain, and thus
increase the incomes of small farmers and producer
groups. 10 percent of global cocoa production (350,000
tonnes of cocoa, grown by 250,000 farmers on 750,000
hectares of farmland) is to be converted to sustainable
production which has been proved to contribute to
preserving biodiversity in tropical eco-systems. In ad-
dition, a sales volume of 165,000 tonnes of cocoa is to
be achieved, which has to originate from certified farms.
The project is set to last for six years – from January 2011
to December 2016. It is being implemented in ten coun-
tries, selected on the basis of the following criteria:
• Significance for the conservation of biodiversity,
• expressed interest on the part of industry in
sourcing cocoa from these countries,
• geographical balance.
The following countries were chosen for the project:
• Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria,
• Asia: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea,
• Latin America: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Peru.
This could be a decisive step towards successfully
establishing a sustainability initiative that is truly
comprehensive and not simply so in a confined region
[41].
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It was recently possible to launch a further cross-sector
initiative: The WCF African Cocoa Initiative Partnership
(ACI). This is a PPP project which brings together parts
of the international cocoa industry, the Sustainable
Trade Initiative IDH and the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) with the WCF. With
the support of government institutions in the four
countries Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria
and with an investment volume of 13.5 million US dollars
over five years, a total of 100,000 farming families are
to be trained in good agricultural practice and the most
important aspects of sustainability. In this respect an
ambitious goal has been set, namely that of doubling
the cocoa productivity of farms and increasing the per
capita income of farmers by 150 to 200 percent [42].
Conclusion
The cocoa sector is currently characterized by a number
of private and multi-stakeholder initiatives which are
geared to bringing about greater economic wealth and
fairness, social justice in the producing countries, as
well as social responsibility and ecological sustain-
ability along the global value-added chain. As in other
food sectors, sustainability standards are increasingly
being applied in cocoa production. A problematical issue
was, and still is, exploitative use of children on cocoa
farms, as studies in Côte d’Ivoire and in Ghana have
shown. Through training, improved production methods,
greater productivity, the promotion of diversification
and greater market transparency, various cross-sector
sustainability initiatives and standards organizations
are endeavoring to liberate farmers from poverty with
the goal of offering them better income opportunities
and development possibilities.
For chocolate manufacturers and cocoa processors,
retail traders and consumers in Germany and other
western countries it is indispensable to acknowledge
these initiatives and their potential impact, yet also
to acknowledge and recognize challenges in the imple-
mentation in the producer countries. At the same time
the rising significance of cocoa-producing countries
such as Indonesia for example, which could in the future
play a greater role in shaping sustainability initiatives,
also has to be acknowledged. Nobody expects that
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these initiatives will have an immediate impact, how-
ever. Nor can it be expected here that chocolate manu-
facturers will procure all their raw materials immediately
from certified sources – not least of all as the training
of farmers, the introduction of new growing methods
and the monitoring of compliance require considerable
investment in terms of time, personnel resources and
financial means as well as the development of complex
structures.
Sustainable sourcing has long since not been restricted
to niche providers, whose target group are socially- and
environmentally-conscious consumers. It is increasingly
becoming established practice in the “mainstream”
and an important consideration throughout the entire
food industry.
The global demand for cocoa will continue to rise. Thus it
will become more important that cocoa of a consistently
high quality and, at the same time, in volumes to meet
market requirements is offered in the future by farmers
whose existences are secured in the long term. In this
context sustainability also means that farmers continue
to want to grow cocoa and are in an economic position to
do so. This presupposes that the cocoa farmers of West
Africa, as well as in other growing regions throughout
the world, are, above all, freed from the vicious circle
of poverty, and that they are able to trade in a stable
political environment. All sustainability initiatives will
also have to be measured in terms of their long-term
success. So that this can succeed there cannot just be
talk of certifications and seals of approval. If the con-
sumer is also to reward such sustainability endeavors,
all the forces along the cocoa value-added chain have
to be transparent and contribute to raising awareness
with the consumer for the valuable raw material cocoa
and the complex manual work involved in its cultivation.
Only thus can constructive connectivity be established
between the consumer and producer markets.
Sustainability may still appear to be an option in the
short term. In the long term, however, no-one will be
able to ignore it.
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Address for correspondence

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Matissek Oliver von Hagen (M.A.)

Lebensmittelchemisches Institut (LCI) International Trade Center (UN/WTO)
des Bundesverbandes der Geneva, Switzerland
Deutschen Süßwarenindustrie e. V. E-Mail: hagen@intracen.org
Adamsstraße 52–54
51063 Cologne, Germany
E-Mail: reinhard.matissek@lci-koeln.de

Dr. Juliane Reinecke Dr. Stephan Manning

Warwick Business School University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Warwick College of Management
Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK 100 Morrissey Boulevard
E-Mail: Juliane.Reinecke@wbs.ac.uk Cambridge, MA 02125, USA
E-Mail: stephan.manning@umb.edu
No 1 – February 2012
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