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Cocoa

Cocoa. By Michaela Frank. Cocoa’s Place Through History. “Images of warrior-priests and nobles sometime appeared with cocoa trees on stelea or boulders in Mayan territories from the Classic (A.D. 200-900) to Postclassic periods (A.D. 900-1200)

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Cocoa

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  1. Cocoa By Michaela Frank

  2. Cocoa’s Place Through History • “Images of warrior-priests and nobles sometime appeared with cocoa trees on stelea or boulders in Mayan territories from the Classic (A.D. 200-900) to Postclassic periods (A.D. 900-1200) • Ritual feedings to the Rain Gods offered human sacrifice of their strongest warriors and bags of cocoa beans

  3. Cortes’ Treasure • Cortes’ Spanish Conquest in the 16th century led him to Central America where he discovered the potential of the cocoa bean • He took his secret back to Spain where the recipe for chocolatl stayed for 100 years. • Over time, the drink became popular among elite English, and spread to Chocolate Houses in France

  4. Delicious Milk Chocolate • By the 19th century Van Houten of the Netherlands revolutionized the chocolate industry by inventing a cocoa press. • There was a Monopoly in Switzerland until Cadbury Chocolates were introduced in 1904.

  5. Decimation of a Nation • Along with their invasion of Central America, the Spaniards brought with them plagues exhausting the Indian population in 17th century. • Cocoa cultivation requires a lot of skilled workers • The Spanish cultivation was also devastating to the cocoa trees and land

  6. Cocoa’s weakness • The cocoa tree is extremely fragile and can not tolerate changes in climate or handle pests. • cocoa of today “is really a human-bred amalgamation of many types and species, with no true counterpart existing in the wild.” http://www.mars.com

  7. Cultivation of Today’s Cocoa • Cocoa production is mostly done by small farms with only 20% by large corporations. • West Africa makes up 70% of the World’s cocoa bean production • With production so high on small farms and poverty of the communities, they rely on child labor.

  8. Child Labor • On these farms, about 284,000 children were said to be working in hazardous cocoa harvesting conditionssuch as “clearing ground; weeding; maintaining cocoa trees; applying pesticides; spreading fertilizer; harvesting; piling/gathering up; pod breaking; fermenting; transporting; drying; and other activities” • Only 1/3 of children 6-17 years old in these regions go to school, the rest farm. • Even with the entire family working, farmers only receive $30-$205 annual income. • http://www.swpictures.co.uk/archive/s594.html

  9. Congress’ Role • Tariff Act of 1930 was revised for a ban on importing child labor products. • U.S. Government gave $250,000 in a grant to the FDA for a “Protocol for the Growing and Processing of CocoaBeans and their Derivative Products in a Manner that Complies with ILOConvention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor”

  10. Tariff Act of 1930 today has failed to implement their rules. • The Protocol also was said to be a failure due to not addressing the main problem behind child slavery in the cocoa production process- poverty. • According to an industry spokesperson, “given the size of the sector — there are 1.5 million cocoa farms in the two countries — it will not be possible to certify that all cocoa beans have been produced and harvested without child labor”.

  11. TNC’s and Fair Trade • There are only about five major chocolate producers: Cadbury, Schweppes, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, and The Hershey Company • Cadbury was one that supports Fair Trade • Today about over 42,000 farmers and their families have joined Fair Trade Co-ops in Ghana, Cameroon, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador.

  12. Mars Inc. • Mars Inc. claims to support cocoa sustainability by understanding that cocoa production is holistic. • They also claim to support research programs.

  13. Mars Inc. and Sustainability • Mars Inc. says they are a supporter of the Protocol • Their ideas to solve the poverty problem includes “integrated pest management techniques to support cocoa production” • Mars Inc. claims to be promoting sustainability for future cocoa producers

  14. USAID • USAID has established sustainability programs in Vietnam and Indonesia. • USAID made a partnership with the farmers called the AMARTA (Agribusiness Market and Support Activity) • Sustainable Cocoa Extension Services for Smallholders Alliance (SUCCESS) an alliance with Vietnam and USAID

  15. A Sustainable Cocoa Future • A sustainable system worked for Pre-Columbian Central America • The large mono-crop cocoa plantations of today are not sustainable • The main problem that leads to non-sustainable agriculture and child labor is poverty.

  16. References Food First Books 2006 Cocoa: Fair Trade. Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International. http://www.fairtrade.net/cocoa.html accessed 04-08-09. Fair Trade Certified Backgrounder: Fair Trade Certified Cocoa. http://www.transfairusa.org/pdfs/backgrounder_cocoa.pdf accessed 04-08-09. Kim, Jenny et al. 2001 The Chocolate Industry: Harvesting Cocoa. Duke Univeristy http://www.duke.edu/~cz8/chocolate/index.html accessed 04-08-09. Knapp, Arthur W. 1920 Cocoa and Chocolate: Their History from Plantation to Consumer. London: Chapman and Hall, LTD. Mars Inc. and its Affiliates 2007 Cocoa Sustainability: Working for a better future for cocoa farmers around the globe. Mars Inc. Sustainable Local Examples. Pilcher, Jeffrey M. 1998 ¡Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

  17. References cont… Shiva, Vandana. 2000 Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. Cambridge, Ma: South End Press. Tiaji Salaam- Blyther et al. 2005 Child Labor in West Africa Cocoa Production: Issues and Policy. CRS Report for Congress. USAID 2009 Frontlines: Indonesian Cocoa Farmers Benefit from Training, Telling Our Story: Cocoa Brings New Markets, Confidence. http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_mar09/p16_cocoa.html accessed 04-16-09 http://www.usaid.gov/stories/vietnam/ss_vn_cocoa.html accessed 04-16-09. Grolier Inc. 1984 Chocolate and cocoa & Cortes InThe Book of Knowledge. Pp. 274-275, 508. Yahoo Image Search. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images 04-28-09 Young, Allen M 1994 The Chocolate Tree. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. Wikipedia 2009 Cocoa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa, accessed 04-08-09.

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