Campaigners split over Cadbury’s Fairtrade pledge
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Fairtrade campaigners have struck a breakthrough by convincing the chocolate giant Cadbury to take its iconic Dairy Milk chocolate bar Fairtrade. Cadbury’s pledge to adopt Fairtrade guidelines for the UK’s best-selling chocolate bar will triple the amount of Fairtrade cocoa sold in Ghana, according to the Fairtrade Foundation.
Cocoa farmers in many African countries live on the brink, earning hardly enough to secure a livelihood and working under dire conditions. Under Fairtrade regulations, Cadbury will have to ensure that workers are paid a minimum wage and are treated humanely by their employers. The Fairtrade rules also include guidelines regarding environmental protection, health benefits and training for workers.
While Cadbury’s decision was officially welcomed by the Fairtrade Foundation, some of its top campaigners remain wary of global corporate players.
“Cadbury is still a big corporation, while most of the older Fairtrade partners are co-operatives,” said Bex Clarke, lead-organiser of the Fairtrade Foundation London. “Another 5% of Ghana’s cocoa will now be Fairtrade, which is a big deal, but they haven’t changed their brand. They are still a bit ‘Coca-Cola-ey’.”
“We thought if we’re going to change the situation for [Ghanaian cocoa farmers] we need to work with big companies like Cadbury,” said Barbara Crowther, Director of Communications of the Fairtrade Foundation, hinting at the reluctance of some campaigners to co-operate with mass-market corporations.
The Fairtrade foundation has staunchly anti-corporate roots and has previously antagonised large international companies. It appears that the success of the Fairtrade philosophy of recent years is bitter-sweet for many of the foundation’s members.
“The co-operatives like Divine and Café Direct, which are part-owned by farmers, they are the people who started this,” added Clarke. “Companies like Sainsbury’s and Cadbury’s are jumping on the bandwagon a bit because it’s become popular and trendy. It’s good because you want it to be successful. But I think people need to understand that there’s more to it than Fairtrade. It’s about the co-operatives.”
But Kate Sebag, veteran Fairtrade campaigner and co-founder of Tropical Wholefoods, disagrees. “For Fairtrade to succeed it has to work with and through the big companies and supermarkets.”
“Fairtrade doesn’t work in spite of big corporations, it works because of them,” said Katie Stafford, sustainability consultant of PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The Fairtrade Foundation is currently going from strength to strength. Over 4,500 products are currently licensed to carry the Fairtrade mark and sales were up 43% in 2008.
