While most consumers agree that ethically-sourced cocoa is no bad
thing, an ever increasing number of different schemes risks
muddying the issue and puzzling chocolate fans.
Cadbury today launched a fund to aid its cocoa suppliers
in Ghana, after research suggested that average production in
the region is now 40 per cent lower than the potential yield.
Agricultural firm Cargill has started construction of a new cocoa
processing facility in Ghana, in an expansion move designed to meet
increasing global demand for cocoa products.
Democrats Tom Harkin and Eliot L. Engel wrote a hard-hitting piece
in the LA Times on Monday about the human cost of the chocolate
trade, but the cocoa industry has hit back by reaffirming its
commitment to responsible farming.
Hanging as a persistent threat to the chocolate industry witches'
broom disease is capable of wiping out entire cacao crops and
sending the price of chocolate rocketing. Despite ongoing research
into the threat confirmed by the...
As an army of chemists around the world continues the march towards
replicating in the laboratory the sweetest gifts from nature, a
small group in West Africa is determined to stake a claim in the
process.
The world's leading chocolate producers have joined forces with
international labour organisations to promote ethical production
practices in West Africa, the main cocoa-growing area. Child labour
is top of the list of current...
ADM Cocoa, a leading processor of cocoa beans, has acquired part of
the cocoa assets of Sifca, the Ivory Coast's main trader and
producer of cocoa, coffee and sugar.