• Cocoa only grows near the equator, in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
• The Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer, providing 40 percent of cocoa sold worldwide.

• Much of the chocolate we enjoy every day in the United States is made from cocoa beans that have been produced using abusive child labor.
• The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and the US State Department estimated that 284,000 children work in abusive child labor conditions on cocoa farms in West Africa, 64 percent of whom are under 14 years old.
• Highly respected news outlets, including the BBC, have reported on outright child slavery in the cocoa fields of West Africa.
• The US is the world's largest importer of cocoa, consuming annually more than three billion pounds of chocolate.

• Consumers are appealing to the US chocolate industry to (1) end abusive child labor in cocoa (2) shift their sourcing towards Fair Trade certified cocoa.
• Consumer demand for socially responsible goods, including Fair Trade Certified products, is rising; Businesses—whether large or small—that incorporate socially responsible products into their product lines can gain the market advantage of promoting a positive image to consumers.

• Fair Trade, denoted by the "Fair Trade Certified" label, is a monitoring and certification process that guarantees a minimum price per pound for cocoa.
• Fair Trade standards:

1. Prohibit forced or abusive child labor.
2. Enable farmers earn a higher price for their cocoa to meet their families' basic needs, such as health care, education, and nutrition, so they can build a better future for their families.
3. Provides farmers a Fair Trade premium to build schools, health clinics, or improve their farm businesses
4. Requires sustainable farming practices, which protect the environment.

• In short, Fair Trade cocoa gives farmers a chance to end to the cycle of poverty and child exploitation on cocoa farms.

How Does Fair Trade Help the Environment?

• Fair Trade farmers abide by environmental standards that prohibit use of the most harmful chemical pesticides and encourage small farmers' tradition of environmental stewardship.
• Fair Trade farmers protect the land and wildlife habitat by intercropping plant species and maintaining waste management control.

• Fair Trade cocoa is usually within the same price range as other chocolate of the same quality. The main reason cocoa farmers earn a better income under Fair Trade is that the farmer cooperatives export directly to importers, cutting out the conventional middlemen who typically capture more of the profit.

• Look for the Fair Trade certified label.

• www.reversetrickortreating.org