DIVINE NOW USES SIERRA LEONE CHOCOLATE IN ALL ITS PRODUCTS
Divine Chocolate, the only Fairtrade chocolate company co-owned by cocoa farmers, is delighted to announce that, for the first time chocolate lovers can taste Fairtrade cocoa from Sierra Leone in all its products.
Sierra Leone was ravaged by a brutal and disruptive civil war for over ten years, which ended eight years ago. Rebuilding lives has been hard, and this first Fairtrade shipment of cocoa out of the country is a sign of hope that the fortunes and prospects of the country’s farmers can be turned around.
The first container of cocoa from Sierra Leone’s only Fairtrade certified cooperative Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise (KAE), has been bought by Divine Chocolate and is of the required quality to be included in the Divine recipe. Kuapa Kokoo, the Ghanaian co-operative that owns 45% of Divine Chocolate, agreed to Divine buying this shipment of cocoa from their fellow farmers in Sierra Leone.
Sophi Tranchell, Divine Chocolate’s Managing Director says:
“KAE’s amazing achievement in both creating a cooperative and trading company, and in addition meeting all the criteria necessary to be Fairtrade certified is to be celebrated. This move is a clear example of the power of Divine’s farmer-ownership model. Not only did Kuapa Kokoo offer technical support and advice alongside funding from Divine, they offered KAE a market for their product. Since Kuapa Kokoo profits from sales of their Divine branded chocolate, the move makes financial sense as well. Divine’s mission has always been to improve the livelihoods of West African farmers. With this cocoa from KAE we are extending our reach beyond Ghana.”
KAE is based in Kenema, 200 miles out of Freetown, and has over 1200 members and 50 village committees. It was first established in 1996, during the civil war, and its growth and achievements are mainly down to the determination, passion and tenacity of cocoa farmer Ibrahim Moseray – the organisation’s general manager. Against enormous odds, Moseray has convinced farmers of the benefits of being part of an organisation that has farmers’ welfare at its heart. With the help of Twin (the Fair Trade NGO behind Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate and Liberation Nuts), and other organisations such as the UN FAO and German Agro Action, KAE has trained farmers how to produce good quality cocoa, developed democratic structures, and learned how to export its own cocoa. Representatives from Kuapa Kokoo have come to Sierra Leone to share their expertise both in terms of running a cooperative and, importantly, improving the quality of their cocoa. Exchange visits have also been arranged with KAE representatives visiting Kuapa Kokoo.
Ibrahim Moseray says: “I am a cocoa farmer myself and my mother and father before me. During the war I saw the struggle of my brothers and how we were cheated by traders, and I wanted to do something to make a better life for us. Kpeya means ‘Give Way’ in Mende – and we are asking the traders to ‘give way’ and let us farmers trade for ourselves”
The challenges facing a fledgling cooperative are much greater in Sierra Leone than they were in Ghana when Kuapa Kokoo was first set up in 1993. The economy is liberalised, so anyone can trade cocoa, and there are many competitors wanting to buy farmers’ cocoa. Most farmers have little understanding of world market prices and often receive low prices for their cocoa. In Sierra Leone there is only one harvest – and in between harvests, July through to August, is known as the Hunger Season for obvious reasons. Cocoa farmers are often cheated, and many have also become dependent on traders who buy their cocoa in advance during the ‘hunger season’ before it is harvested, in exchange for rice. Rice is the staple food, but there is hardly a local market for it as American imported rice undercuts homegrown. Some cocoa farmers grow a little for their own use, but often need more to tide them over. The farmers are very conscious that the traders don’t have the farmers’ interests and welfare at heart – and this is why they have started joining KAE – an organisation run by farmers for farmers. KAE has been offering a good price and other incentives, which other traders cannot match.
The cocoa exported from Sierra Leone each year (between 12000 and 14000 tonnes) is generally of a low quality – intended for bulk use. The members of KAE have been learning how to improve the quality through more careful fermentation and drying, and how to do their own quality checks. As a result their cocoa is now good enough to be used for good Fairtrade chocolate.
Kpeya has already helped its members with a number of initiatives – including building a school in Batiama village (and arranging for a teacher to come every day to teach there) so the children there no longer have to walk four miles to the nearest school, building a cocoa depot and food store, and coordinating Farmer Field Schools. The first Fairtrade premium has been spent, on the agreement of the farmer members, on the buying of land for KAE to build its own HQ offices and store in Kenema.
Related posts:
- DIVINE CHOCOLATE HEARTS FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
- DIVINE LAUNCHES 85% CHOCOLATE BAR
- DIVINE TO LAUNCH A MILK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE EASTER EGG
- FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT AND DIVINE CHOCOLATE CHEFS
- DIVINE CHOCOLATE ADDS NEW FLAVOUR TO ITS RANGE
- DIVINE CHOCOLATES LAUNCHES CHRISTMAS LINES
- DIVINE ADDS NEW FLAVOUR FOR FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT
- DIVINE CHOCOLATES LAUNCH FAIRTRADE EASTER PRODUCTS
