Oxfam: Giant Chocolate Manufacturers Milking Cocoa Farmers in ECOWAS Dry

Gilbert Ekugbe

Oxfam has expressed concerns over the activities of giant chocolate manufacturers exploiting cocoa farmers in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

According to a survey conducted by Oxfam, chocolate corporations’ sustainability programmes are failing to deliver on promises to raise farmers’ incomes especially those into cocoa farming in Nigeria and others in the ECOWAS region.

Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar, said there is big money in chocolate production, but definitely not for farmers, lamenting that cocoa farmers work extremely hard, under grueling conditions, yet cannot always feed their families.

In a statement obtained from its website, Oxfam analysed the sustainability programmes of ten of the top chocolate manufacturers and traders operating in ECOWAS, all of which prioritise helping farmers produce more cocoa, but however, stated that none of these programmes achieved their stated goal of increasing cocoa production and consequently, boosting farmer income.

“In fact, the crop yields of farmers in the corporations’ supply chains declined by 25 per cent between 2020 and 2022. Similarly, Oxfam found that none of the premiums, an extra sum paid directly to farmers on top of the selling price paid by the corporations meaningfully increased farmers’ incomes,” Oxfam added.

Cocoa farmers surveyed by Oxfam said they are being paid a premium of $35 to $40 per tonne of cocoa, stressing that the average cocoa farmer in Ghana produces about one tonne of cocoa annually.

“They need to earn $2,600 more per year to get a living income,” the report added.

The Oxfam survey revealed that Ghanaian and Nigerian cocoa farmers’ paltry incomes fell on average by 16 per cent since the start of the pandemic, while the confectionary profits of the four biggest public chocolate corporations on average jumped by the exact same rate.

Oxfam explained that the world’s four largest public chocolate corporations, Hershey, Lindt, Mondelēz and Nestlé, have together made nearly $15 billion in profits from their confectionary divisions alone since the onset of the pandemic, up by an average 16 per cent since 2020.