Modern-Day Slavery?- Not If You Don't Look!
"It's not clear how big or small it is," said John Faulkner, spokesman for Godiva chocolates. He said Godiva's cocoa supplier, Barry Callebaut, based in Brussels, Belgium, gave assurances that "no slavery practices have been reported and none would be tolerated."
But Willy Geraerts, director of corporate quality for Barry Callebaut, conceded, "What we don't control we cannot guarantee."
The middlemen who buy Ivory Coast cocoa beans from farmers and sell them to processors seldom visit the small farms, and when they do, it's to examine the beans, not the workers.
Young boys are a common sight on the farms of west Africa, and it's impossible to know without asking which are a farmer's own children, which are field hands who will be paid $150 to $180 after a year's work, and which are slaves.
"We've never seen child slavery. We don't go to the plantations. The slavery here is long gone," said G.H. Haidar, a cocoa buyer in Daloa. "We're only concerned with our work."
Sekongo Nagalouro said, "Maybe there are some people who think this is modern-day slavery, but I don't think so."
It's true that he gave a trafficker money for the boys working on his farm. And it's true that he hasn't paid them yet for the work they do. But he intends to pay them at the end of the year from his crop profits, he said. Providing he can take care of his family and future crop expenses first. It all depends, he said, on the price of cocoa.
World cocoa prices have fallen almost 24 percent since 1996, from 67 cents a pound to 51 cents. This forces impoverished farmers to look for the cheapest labor they can find.
Abdelilah Benkirane, at the Society of Commercial Agricultural Producers of Daloa, one of Ivory Coast's biggest cocoa and coffee buyers, said: "We cannot blame the farmers for exploiting these workers. The farmer has no influence on the global system. The system dictates the price."
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, based in Vienna, Va., at first said the industry was not aware of any slavery. After Knight Ridder began inquiring about the labor force on farms, however, the association in late April said it strongly condemned "these practices wherever they may occur."
In May, the association decided to expand an Ivory Coast farming program to include education on "the importance of children."
"Yes, indeed, I think there is a problem," Chairman Gary Guittard said this month. The association now is funding a survey of child labor practices, which Guittard sees as an important first step.
"I'm very hopeful that the very fact that people are going out into the bush and looking at this stuff is going to change it," he said. "I just think that in itself will change it."
But Willy Geraerts, director of corporate quality for Barry Callebaut, conceded, "What we don't control we cannot guarantee."
The middlemen who buy Ivory Coast cocoa beans from farmers and sell them to processors seldom visit the small farms, and when they do, it's to examine the beans, not the workers.
"We've never seen child slavery. We don't go to the plantations. The slavery here is long gone," said G.H. Haidar, a cocoa buyer in Daloa. "We're only concerned with our work."
Sekongo Nagalouro said, "Maybe there are some people who think this is modern-day slavery, but I don't think so."
It's true that he gave a trafficker money for the boys working on his farm. And it's true that he hasn't paid them yet for the work they do. But he intends to pay them at the end of the year from his crop profits, he said. Providing he can take care of his family and future crop expenses first. It all depends, he said, on the price of cocoa.
World cocoa prices have fallen almost 24 percent since 1996, from 67 cents a pound to 51 cents. This forces impoverished farmers to look for the cheapest labor they can find.
Abdelilah Benkirane, at the Society of Commercial Agricultural Producers of Daloa, one of Ivory Coast's biggest cocoa and coffee buyers, said: "We cannot blame the farmers for exploiting these workers. The farmer has no influence on the global system. The system dictates the price."
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, based in Vienna, Va., at first said the industry was not aware of any slavery. After Knight Ridder began inquiring about the labor force on farms, however, the association in late April said it strongly condemned "these practices wherever they may occur."
In May, the association decided to expand an Ivory Coast farming program to include education on "the importance of children."
"Yes, indeed, I think there is a problem," Chairman Gary Guittard said this month. The association now is funding a survey of child labor practices, which Guittard sees as an important first step.
"I'm very hopeful that the very fact that people are going out into the bush and looking at this stuff is going to change it," he said. "I just think that in itself will change it."
