fairtrade chichester

Great Day for Chocoholics

The Uk’s best selling chocolate bar goes Fairtrade

If you are anything like me, you are a bit of a chocoholic.  Therefore, you will be happy to know that you now have a very good reason to have a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk that because it now Fairtrade -certified

Cadbury launched its Fairtrade-certified Dairy Milk chocolate bar in July, making it the first mass market chocolate to gain certification from the Fairtrade foundation.  Cadbury’s   Dairy milk will source its cocoa from Fairtrade farmers in Ghana.

The groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, and opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

“Farmers are saying that it’s impossible to make ends meet” said Fairtrade’s head, Harriet Lamb.  “People don’t see cocoa as a future.  They don’t get enough cash from cocoa so there not enough investment.”  The new project is designed to create a “Virtuous circle” by putting a floor on the price and offering a premium for higher quality beans.  “With more income, farmers invest to improve quality and productivity,” she added.  “Then they start to spread the benefits and you see banks popping up in villages and thriving markets appearing.”

Forty thousand of Ghana’s 700,000 cocoa farmers will benefit from the first phase of the Cadbury venture.  Cadbury’s chief executive Todd Stitzer, has said that he plans to convert the group’s other chocolate brand to Fairtrade “as soon as we can do it”.

So next time you hesitate before buying a Cadbury Dairy milk remember the cocoa farmers of Ghana are counting on you.