Hershey Plans To Used Only Certified Cocoa By 2020 To Reduce Child labour In Africa

Leading candy producer in the world, Hershey has promised to use certified cocoa to step up programs that will help eliminate child labour in cocoa-producing regions of West Africa.

The company plan to start using certified cocoa — which is produced according to certain social, economic and environmental standards – for all of its chocolate products by 2020. It says independent auditors will verify the certified cocoa was produced by the highest labor, environmental and farming practices.

The company stated its plan to use certified cocoa should “significantly expand” the global supply of such cocoa, especially from West Africa, which produces about 70 percent of the world’s cocoa.

Hershey said certified cocoa currently accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s cocoa supply.

The company has been criticized by activists, like Raise the Bar Hershey! who said it was the only major chocolate producer in the world that hadn’t made a commitment to use certified cocoa. TheRaise the Bar Hershey! Campaign comprising of over 150,000 consumers, union allies, religious groups, and over 40 food co-ops and natural grocers; has been pressuring Hershey to address child labour for several years.

However, following the announcement by Hershey to use certified Cocoa by 2020; The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Campaign in a statement said: “To truly address child labour, Hershey needs to make sure it is certifying all of its cocoa Fair Trade, the only certification that adequately addresses the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Hershey should certify and label one of its top-selling, brand name bars Fair Trade within the next year, and should certify and label all of its chocolates Fair Trade by 2020. We urge Hershey to reveal how the company plans to get to 100 percent certification by disclosing the certifiers it will be working with as well as a timeline for converting specific product lines.”

Some 1.8 million children, ages 5 to 17, work on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana, according to the fourth annual report produced by Tulane University under contract to the U.S. Department of Labour to monitor progress in the protocol. The report says 40 percent of the 820,000 children working in cocoa in Ivory Coast are not enrolled in school, and only about 5 percent of the Ivorian children are paid for their work, AP reported.

Many other smaller chocolate companies in the United States are already 100 percent certified, a number of them using Fair Trade certification, the most rigorous certification for identifying and remediating the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Hershey declared that it will continue to support community development programs, such as village school construction, mobile phone farmer messaging, training in modern farming techniques and literacy and health programs.

Hershey said it would invest $10 million in West Africa to reduce child labour and improve the cocoa supply, mostly in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

J.P. Bilbrey, company president and chief executive officer, said “Consistent with Hershey’s values, we are directly addressing the economic and social issues that impact West Africa’s two million cocoa farmers and families. I am confident that we can make a substantial difference in West Africa by 2020.”

Posted from Ventures Africa