If many little people
In many little places
Do many little deeds
They can change the face of the Earth
-African Proverb-
A Cocoa Cooperative Discovers Fair Trade
In the Dominican Republic in the late 1970s, four wealthy families controlled all of the cocoa exports on the island. Ultimately all of the cocoa grown on the island flowed through intermediaries controlled by these families. Their cocoa estates drew labor from smaller neighboring family-owned farms. Rather than tend to their small plots, these farmers would leave their crops to travel and work the estates for a few pesos a day to provide the basic necessities for their families. In the early 1980s, the German government granted aid money to work with groups of small farmers to improve the quality of the cocoa harvest. When the program's funding ran out several of the farmers sought to keep the program running by organizing into cooperatives. They called their nascent venture the National Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Producers (CONACADO). Each farmer contributed their harvests and their resources in an attempt to become a legitimate force in the Dominican cocoa industry. Seeking their first international customer, CONACADO looked overseas to Germany and found a gourmet chocolatier interested in importing their cocoa. Fine quality chocolate is made of fermented cocoa beans. They packed up their first order, and finding their supply often fell short, they topped the shipping container off with unfermented beans. Upon discovering this, the Germans discontinued their business relationship. Disheartened, but having learned an important lesson about quality and consistency, the farmers set out to find new clientele and began their steep climb toward building a successful international business.
One of their first insights came in the mid 1980s when they learned of the burgeoning organics market. The estate owners scoffed at the coop's interest in organic cultivation because they knew that it meant scores more hours of labor. It would involve hand weeding between their trees and investing much more energy into nourishing and tending their crop. In spite of the dissuasion and heckling from the large plantation owners, the cooperative opted to pursue organic certification, becoming the first organic certified cocoa producer on the island. Within a year, their risky investment paid off royally. Soon orders came pouring in from all over Western Europe for their certified organic specialty cocoa.
Ever attuned to the pulse of the international market, the leaders of CONACADO soon learned of a trading system and certification that would pay a premium price and facilitate more direct access to consumers: Fair Trade. Fair Trade was an effort on the behalf of consumers in the North and producers in the South that gave small-scale farmers direct access to international markets. CONACADO decided to obtain Fair Trade certification and received it in 1995. For a number of years, however, they were frustrated that they couldn't sell their all of their harvest under Fair Trade terms because of low demand. But, growing recognition in Europe and the United States of the benefits that Fair Trade brings to small farmers has increased consumption of Fair Trade products. Today, ten percent of CONACADO's total harvest is sold under Fair Trade terms.
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