Fairtrade and Chocolatemakers working together

Cocoa origins, Chocolatemakers, Norandino, Certification, Living Income

Chocolatemakers and Fairtrade Netherlands join forces to work towards fair payment for farmers. Both organisations have been working for years on better payments for farmers. From now on, they will work together even more actively on this. From 28 April 2020, the first Fairtrade certified chocolate bars will be available.

As of March 2020, Chocolatemakers is not only organic but also officially Fairtrade certified. Since its establishment in 2011, Chocolatemakers has been paying a stable and high price for its cocoa so that the farmers earn a living income. Fairtrade recently launched the "living income reference price" for cocoa: the price farmers should receive for their cocoa to live on. They are also setting up pilot projects on "living income" and the Fairtrade minimum price and premium have recently been increased by 20%.

These positive developments are in line with Chocolatemakers' approach for a sustainable cocoa sector. Chocolatemakers co-founder Rodney Nikkels says : "It would be great if Fairtrade and other industry players could provide more farmers with a living income. We want to support the debate on a living income for cocoa farmers from the 'inside out', which is why we now also carry the Fairtrade mark.From 28 April, the first bars from Peru will be on sale at EkoPlaza and online via the Chocolatemakers webshop. Around 2 May, the first Fairtrade cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic will arrive in Amsterdam in a special way. The beans were transported in an entirely CO2-neutral manner on the sailing ship Tres Hombres.

More income for farmers thanks to factory in Peru
Extreme dependence on the price of cocoa beans in the world market and the influence of a few big players in the cocoa industry are the root causes of the unfair incomes for farmers. Besides a good price for the cocoa beans, more value can be created in the producing countries themselves. The first Fairtrade certified chocolate bars, the Awajún bar, are therefore partly made in Peru and partly in Amsterdam!

Chocolatemakers has set up a cocoa processing plant together with the NorAndino cooperative to process the cocoa beans into mass in Peru. The second step (from the mass to the chocolate bar) is done in Amsterdam but will also be done in Peru in the future.