Every year at Easter, millions of chocolate rabbits and eggs are sold in Germany who sweeten the holidays. But behind this delicious facade there are serious problems: cocoa production is often characterized by exploitative working conditions, child labor and environmental cultivation methods. Many people therefore prefer to use chocolate with a fair trade seal. But what do they mean specifically? And how fair are you?
Cute chocolate bunny, small chocolate beetle and colorful chocolate eggs: Sweet treats are an integral part of the celebrations at Easter. But even in the rest of the year, chocolate is very popular in Germany: According to the Federal Statistical Office, a good 13.6 kilograms of chocolate per capita were produced at the end of 2023 – more than 2.5 plates per week. But the chocolate raw material cocoa is characterized by the exploitation of people and the environment.
Fair trade seal as a fight against exploitation
Many cocoa farmers still live in extreme poverty today, so often children also have to help at work at the plantations. According to a study by the University of Chicargo, around 1.5 million children worked alone on the cocoa pilots in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2022. This means that almost every second child works in cocoa farmers there. Children and adults often come into contact with pesticides, from which they can seriously ill. The pesticides also contain the groundwater on site. In addition, there is a lot of deforestation to grow new cocoa hunt. This endangers biodiversity and burdens the climate.
Many people therefore want to buy fair and sustainable chocolate. However, the terms “fair” and “fair trade” are not legally protected: there are no uniform requirements for their use. In order to create transparency, independent seals mark products made of fair trade. In order to ensure a certain standard, the umbrella organizations of fair trade have developed common minimum standards that organizational members have to adhere to and which are regularly checked.
The Fairtrade seal
The Fairtrade seal is one of the most famous license plates and is awarded internationally by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization. Fairtrade International defines minimum prices for various raw materials, so that producers receive this guaranteed price, even if the world market price is below. If the world market price is increasing, the producers will be paid out the higher price. In addition, a Fairtrade bonus of $ 240 per tonne cocoa is paid. It flows into social projects, covers administrative costs and enables investments in plantations. Part of it is paid directly to the cocoa farmer families.
However, the developmental non-governmental organization inkota criticizes that the minimum price of Fairtrade is too low-56 percent of the Fairtrade-certified farmers in the Côte d’Ivoire live below the poverty line. While many fair trade labels also take ecological criteria into account, the focus of Fairtrade is clearly on the social framework.
Naturland fair
Naturland promotes organic farming worldwide worldwide and is actually a seal for ecological agriculture. The guidelines of Naturland Fair also include minimum social standards. Companies that use the Naturland Fair seal are obliged to adhere to both ecological and social standards and pay Fairtrade minimum prices and premiums. The standards of Naturland Fair apply not only to farmers in global south, but also to European producers. This also gives European dairy farmers a fair price for the milk that is in the chocolate.
Pa
According to its own statements, the fair trade organization PA uses not only fairly traded cocoa, but also fair organic milk. The prices are designed in such a way that they take into account both the production costs and an appropriate profit for the farmers. The “Kocao-Plus Prize” is $ 3,500 per tonne cocoa and is therefore above the Fairtrade minimum price. If the world market price is higher, GEPA also pays the higher price plus additional bonuses of $ 540 per ton. In addition, PA chocolate is bio-certified: cocoa farmers who sell their products under this seal do without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
Many Fairtrade seals offer similar types of support for producers, but differ in the amount of prices. Some seals also take ecological aspects into account and have expanded their minimum requirements for dairy farmers. In general, however, the following applies to the purchase: If you want to do something good for chocolate Easter bunnies or Easter egg, you should use one of these Fairtrade seal. Because even if the requirements differ, the chance is high that these chocolate was produced more fairer and sustainable than normal chocolate mass goods.