Face of Fair Trade: The Sweet Success of the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperative
Working with a Fair Trade business, I am constantly surrounded by Fair Trade products like handwoven baskets, bamboo bowls, embroidered scarves and most importantly...chocolate. I must admit that it can be both a blessing (so delicious!) and a curse (too much delicious!), but when it comes to Divine Chocolate I'm alright with too much delicious and for the Kuapa Kokoo farmers the chocolate is nothing but a blessing.
The Kuapa Kokoo cooperative started when several cocoa farmers envisioned a cocoa company run by farmers for their own benefit. With the partial liberalization of the cocoa market in Ghana making it possible for farmers to buy and sell cocoa for themselves, these farmers pooled their resources together and created the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative.
The cooperative follows a Fair Trade business model with their main mission set out for:
- increased power and representation within the market for the farmers
- social, economic and political empowerment
- enhanced women's participation in all its affairs
- environmentally sustainable production processes
The life of an average cocoa farmer is a hard one. With an ever fluctuating world market cocoa price, long term security is never guaranteed often making it difficult to cover production costs or even to provide basic needs for their own families.
By participating in the Fair Trade model, Kuapa Kokoo has access to a fair and steady price for their crop
often paid in advance, a guaranteed social premium put toward community development such as the construction of schools and an equal say in the decision making process within the cooperative. With this list of benefits, membership to the cooperative continues to grow with the current number at 45,000.
Even more groundbreaking than a farmer owned cooperative was the collective vote of the farmers to establish their own chocolate company to return even more benefits to the farmers. With the help of some investors the Divine Chocolate Company was created. With their ownership in the company, the farmers receive a share of the profits, get a considerable say in the production of their chocolate and are able to expand their business skills in the international chocolate market.
Unfortunately, Kuapa Kokoo has yet to realize its full potential as only a small percentage of their cocoa crop is sold at Fair Trade prices, while the rest is sold at the fluctuating world market price. The main solution to this set back is to increase the demand for Fair Trade products. That can easily be done by taking action such as asking for Divine Chocolate at your grocery stores.
As the Fair Trade movement expands, so does the hope of even greater benefits for the farmers. With the name meaning "Good Cocoa Farmers Company" in the local Twi language and their motto being "Pa Pa Paa" or "the best of the best of the best", these farmers have set out to do just that, grow good cocoa and not only make the best chocolate but have also make the best for themselves.
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