Panorama: Chocolate- The bitter truth!

Millions and millions of people will be eating chocolate this Easter. But have we ever thought about its origin?

In order to avoid revision I was watching panorama on BBC (can't remember which one but it's on i-player). The programme talked about how the major cocoa producers, namely Ivory Coast and Ghana. The fields are located in remote part of the countries and are maintained by people who live on much less than a £1 per day. Just to earn a bit of money from the chocolate industry worth billion of dollars, the people are ready to use child labour. Yes, child labour ( apparently in its worst form).

The young children work in the cocoa fields climbing on trees and using blades. they do not go to school. It was mentioned that big brands like Nestle (kitkat's creator) is still using cocoa produced using child labour, even though they've started using the "fair trade logo" earlier this year. But isn't child labour considered in fair trade agreements?

I found it funny and interesting how the reporter dared create chocolate made from those cocoa seeds and included "made using child labour" on its packaging and showed it to people on the street! lol

Obviously if developed countries population knew how the precious cocoa was produced, most people will not want to buy chocolates made from them. But we don't know what the reality is, so we keep buying chocolate.

But the main question raised by panorama was "are we paying a fair price for our chocolate?". This was left pending at the end. But I think that the answer will definitely be no. Developed countries can still raise the prices and claim that part will go to the people in the developing countries, but it is not sure the money will really go to the poor people who deserve it.

I have to admit that the 1 hour programme made me think a lot, but I still bought a chocolate bar this morning:( Oh irony of the world. Anyway, its Easter!

But, I would definitely recommend watching panorama. The previous episode about new laws against illegal internet downloads using torrents scared me a bit! Students beware! lol..

Suri

Mauritian Students Ambassador