Trade for Development Centre is a programme of Enabel, the Belgian development agency.

Cocoa

Fair trade from Europe. Fair trade no longer an exclusive North-South story

Over the last forty years, fair trade has proved to be a strong development model built on a cup of coffee from Latin America and a chocolate bar from Africa. It is a way for consumers to fight existing inequalities between the North and the South. But what about our own farmers who are also victims of the existing agricultural model? Isn’t a Greek farmer entitled to a fair price for his produce? These issues have occupied European fair trade movements for a while. Over the last few years more and more concrete initiatives in the area have emerged.

Read more »

Belvas, a passion for chocolate and exports

Who would have thought that the pralines of a small mouscronnoise chocolate factory on the verge of bankruptcy, bought out almost ten years ago, would become an essential product in organic grocery shops around the world and find its place among the greatest Belgian chocolate makers, while respecting the principles of fair trade?

Read more »

Ethics in the chocolate value chain

Surveys conducted between 2009 and 2011 show that more than 250 000 children are used and exploited in cocoa plantations in West Africa (mainly in Ivory Coast). In 2001, some of the big names of the global chocolate industry signed the Harkin-Engel protocol and committed to addressing the worst forms of child labour. Ten years later, none of the goals set by this protocol were fully achieved.

Read more »

Cocoa: a lever for development

Cocoa is a mythical food with surprising origins that has made its way around the globe. Starting in Central America, it spread in the holds of merchant ships during the era when the world was opening up to explorers. Limited to the zone between the tropics, from which it cannot escape, the cocoa tree is fragile and delicate and its trunk and branches hold a bizarre, inedible fruit. A fruit, though, that is highly prized.

Read more »

Fair trade from Europe. Fair trade no longer an exclusive North-South story

Over the last forty years, fair trade has proved to be a strong development model built on a cup of coffee from Latin America and a chocolate bar from Africa. It is a way for consumers to fight existing inequalities between the North and the South. But what about our own farmers who are also victims of the existing agricultural model? Isn’t a Greek farmer entitled to a fair price for his produce? These issues have occupied European fair trade movements for a while. Over the last few years more and more concrete initiatives in the area have emerged.

Read more »

Belvas, a passion for chocolate and exports

Who would have thought that the pralines of a small mouscronnoise chocolate factory on the verge of bankruptcy, bought out almost ten years ago, would become an essential product in organic grocery shops around the world and find its place among the greatest Belgian chocolate makers, while respecting the principles of fair trade?

Read more »

Ethics in the chocolate value chain

Surveys conducted between 2009 and 2011 show that more than 250 000 children are used and exploited in cocoa plantations in West Africa (mainly in Ivory Coast). In 2001, some of the big names of the global chocolate industry signed the Harkin-Engel protocol and committed to addressing the worst forms of child labour. Ten years later, none of the goals set by this protocol were fully achieved.

Read more »

Cocoa: a lever for development

Cocoa is a mythical food with surprising origins that has made its way around the globe. Starting in Central America, it spread in the holds of merchant ships during the era when the world was opening up to explorers. Limited to the zone between the tropics, from which it cannot escape, the cocoa tree is fragile and delicate and its trunk and branches hold a bizarre, inedible fruit. A fruit, though, that is highly prized.

Read more »

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