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Before his chance encounter with a Dutch reporter in 2014, Ivorian cocoa farmer N’Da Alphonse was unaware of the fate of the beans he harvested and sold, beyond their eventual use as a food additive somewhere far away from his village. When the reporter’s news crew offered him a chocolate bar, Alphonse examined the bar and proceeded to take a shy nibble, positing that its pleasant sweetness is the reason “why white people are so healthy!”
In a region that accounts for a third of the world’s cocoa, West African farmers, like Alphonse, have remained far removed from the finished products—and profits—of their labor. Nestlé, Cadbury, and other corporations satisfying the world’s continued craving for cocoa derivatives are well aware of the economic inequity needed to keep their operations profitable. Their spokespeople insist that the sourcing for cheap cocoa is accompanied by a mission towards “balanc[ing] forest protection and communities’ livelihoods;” however, the $9.40 daily income that Alphonse uses to support his family of 15 puts forth evidence of systemic and sustained exploitation.
"In a region that accounts for a third of the world’s cocoa, West African farmers, like Alphonse, have remained far...