For Easter, chocolate eggs once again invaded the French gardens. This is the second time when we consume the most chocolate after Christmas. And that’s a lot, since on average in France, an inhabitant eats 6.5 kilos of chocolate per year, a figure that continues to grow. The problem is that this consumption goes hand in hand with deplorable working conditions, poorly paid inhabitants and mass deforestation in the producing countries.
Tropical forests are degrading so much that experts are now calling for a rapid change in production conditions. One country symbolizes this link between cocoa production and deforestation: Côte d’Ivoire. The country is the world’s largest cocoa producer, with around 40% of annual production… And a forest that has been decimated to 90%.
There has been for years a phenomenon of communicating vase between this monoculture and the natural areas set up over the decades, Explain Frederic Amiel. “In fact, Ivorian peasants are strongly encouraged by the government, after decolonization, to move to cultivate cocoa and bring in money”, says the general coordinator of the NGO Friends of the Earth and author at the editions of the Atelier d’une A short history of globalization for chocolate lovers.
“In fact, it is really these successive population movements that explain how cocoa has eaten away at the forest.”
Frederic Amielat franceinfo
“This is also what explains this character of monoculture” adds the specialist who specifies that “People move elsewhere to open a new cocoa production for 25 or 30 years. A whole system has been put in place”. If this system still persists today, it is mainly because small cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire are poorly paid. So to try to produce a little more and earn a little more, “small cocoa producers will be encouraged to clear the forest to benefit from a little more fertile soil” says the General Delegate of France Fair Trade Julie Stoll. This is called “exploit forest rent”.
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In the country, therefore, we have people who are poorly paid for a product that leads to massive deforestation. Another 20,000 hectares of forest less in 2019 in Ivory Coast, according to the NGO Mighty Earth. However, deforestation is a factor of climate change, as the IPCC also points out in its latest report. Added to this is child labor in the plantations: 800,000 according to a study by the University of Chicago. A not very good result for the cocoa sector.
Should we stop eating chocolate? No, but on the other hand, importing and consuming countries like France have a responsibility and are trying to meet these challenges. In 2018, a national strategy against imported deforestation was put in place by the French government, now supplemented by an initiative for sustainable cocoa which brings together stakeholders, manufacturers, researchers, NGOs and distributors. An essential point for Frédéric Amiel.
“Supermarkets, which are the main points of sale, are involved in this initiative. And we know very well that we will not move towards a more sustainable system if they are not involved.”
Frederic Amielat franceinfo
Besides, “The government is also a signatory”, specifies the general coordinator of the NGO Friends of the Earth. “At some point, if it realizes that voluntary commitments are not enough, will the government decide to take regulation to the next level?” This is also the question he asks himself. Added to this is a European level since the commission has launched a draft regulation to ban the import of products linked to deforestation, from cocoa to coffee and palm oil.
In the meantime, in cocoa-producing countries, several things are being put in place. In terms of income and working conditions, fair trade labels have been setting up dedicated circuits for years. There is also the agronomic aspect, to put an end to this cocoa monoculture which is devastating the forest. And this notably involves promoting agroforestry, as explained by Martijn Ten Hoopen, researcher and cocoa sector correspondent at CIRAD, the Center for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for Development based in Montpellier. “In an agroforestry system, we can combine fruit trees, bananas, cocoa. These other products can be for personal consumption or marketed, it is then a second source of income”, he explains.
This also makes it possible to limit the risks if the price of cocoa collapses, since the producers will then be able to sell other products, ensuring them a decent income.