What Brings Big Business to Fair Trade?

It was the village of Bipoa in the Kumasi region of Ghana which helped provide the inspiration for the Cadbury Dairy Milk move to Fair Trade. Bipoa is set in the heart of Ghana’s cocoa growing area in the Kumasi region of Ghana.

I travelled to Bipoa in December 2008 with Martin Hill from the Fairtrade Foundation and Nicolas Adjei-Gyan from Kuapa Kokoo, a Fair Trade co-operative of farmers. Bipoa looks like many other cocoa villages and again, like so many, is reached by a dusty red road. Small children can be seen playing in the village square and chickens run around freely.

Bipoa was one of the first villages to become Fair Trade certified and is part of the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative, with a membership of around 50,000 farmers. The real difference, however, is obvious as soon as one meets the villagers.

	Madam Violet Asantewaa

Traditionally in a Ghanaian village one is greeted by the village Chief and the Elders, but in Bipoa, it was the members of the Women’s Union who greeted us. There is a real sense of pride as the women begin telling you about the difference the Fair Trade premium has made to the life of the villagers. As you walk through the cocoa trees, Madam Violet Asantewaa, Vice President of the women’s group told us that she wanted to sell even more of her cocoa under Fair Trade terms so that through trade, she can further improve the life of her children and all the members of her community.

The Cadbury brothers first started sourcing from Ghana over 100 years ago. Investing in communities around our factories or in countries where we source ingredients has always been part of the way we do business. In Ghana, this includes investment in water wells, libraries and a farmer newspaper to help farmers grow cocoa more productively.

With Fair Trade our investment isn’t about philanthropy or charity but it’s about treating farmers with dignity and respect. Through the premium farmers decide how to invest their money, and I think this approach is central to our work with farmers.

Some may feel there’s no place for big companies in Fair Trade, and that taking it to the mainstream may be selling out. I believe it’s about expanding reach, visibility and consumer understanding. Not to mention the impact that can be made on the farmers and their communities.

Let’s look at the impact we have been able to make already. A Fair Trade certification mark will appear on 350 million bars across the world – including Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. This will help grow awareness of Fair Trade around the world.

We will also see Cadbury Dairy Milk Fair Trade appearing in countries that are part of the distribution network, like Japan. And recently, I saw my first Cadbury Dairy Milk Fair Trade chocolate bar at the airport in Ghana.

	Taking one of the new Kuapa-built wells for a spin.

The greatest impact, however, is directly in Ghana. The sales of Fair Trade cocoa from Ghana have quadrupled as a result of our commitment and Kuapa Kokoo has received the Fair Trade premiums from the bars we’ve already sold. These premiums have been invested in projects determined by the farmers themselves including building wells and mobile health clinics, and funding for carbon reduction schemes. Alongside the community investment, the money is also being used to fund farmer training, incentives and provision of tools.

In Bipoa, we visited the toilet block which had been built with Fair Trade premiums and the farmers proudly showed us their cocoa farms. Roopak Bhat, our Cocoa Manager in Ghana, started talking to the farmers and discussing which cocoa pods had the most beans and which trees were the most productive. Roopak was soon surrounded by farmers asking him questions about farming techniques and wanting to learn more.

In 2008 we launched the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership making a commitment to invest £45 million into cocoa sustainability with £30 million allocated to Ghana. Our aim is to create thriving cocoa communities where young people want to stay and make a living from cocoa. The Cocoa Partnership has recently funded 17 Extension Officers to work with farmers to improve knowledge about pruning, pest and diseases and fertilizer use. These Extension Officers will also be working in Fair Trade farms to ensure farmers across Ghana can increase the income they receive from cocoa.

But what about farming communities who are not part of the Fair Trade system? The Cocoa Partnership is working in 100 communities across Ghana which represents around 10,000 farmers. In 2008 the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) International assessed some of these communities and the farmers didn’t meet Fair Trade standards. Working with FLO and our partners in Ghana CARE, World Vision and VSO we have been working to bring these communities into the Fair Trade system so more farmers can sell cocoa under Fair Trade terms. And I understand the first communities are about to reach the standard.

So – what is the role of big business in Fair Trade? I believe that we not only help by bringing the message to more people in more countries across the world, but at a farming level, working with Fair Trade we can really make cocoa a sustainable livelihood for thousands of famers and their families.

It was wonderful to return to Bipoa a year after the first meeting to tell the Women’s Union that their words had provided so much meaning to our business and that as a result, we had listened and were now sourcing Fair Trade cocoa.

And looking to the future, now as part of Kraft Foods, we have an even greater opportunity to positively impact the lives of cocoa farmers. The joint business is already the biggest purchaser of certified coffee and cocoa, and can use this expertise to drive greater benefits for cocoa farming communities across West Africa.

Alison Ward is the Head of Global Corporate Responsibility for Cadbury.