Fair Trade Chocolate

Chocolate comes from cacao beans, the trees grow in the New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, South America and West Africa rainforests. Cacao trees do not begin to produce until the are between three and five years old. When they begin the harvest, the pods are harvested carefully by hand (the trees will continue to produce pods throughout the year as long as they are not damaged during harvesting). Then the pods are chopped open with machetes to separate the beans from the white sticky pulp that surrounds them.

They are then fermented and dried for about 2 weeks before they are exported, for all of this work the families get very little money, usually $30.00 to $108.00 for each member of the family per year.

http://easyhomebasedbusinessopportunities.com/home-business It is recommended by the Global Exchange that people only purchase certified chocolate bearing the Fair Trade seal; this guarantees that farmers are paid a minimum price for their harvest. While large corporations sign agreements and pledge money to end unfair labor practices, they dont pay enough money for cocoa to end the poverty of these cacao farms. It has also been advised to call and write the chocolate manufacturers and ask them to take action, most candy packages have a customer service phone number.

http://easyhomebasedbusinessopportunities.com/home-business Large companies dont purchase fair trade chocolate; they donate money to the World Cocoa Foundation which supports labor monitoring programs in West Africa. These donations are only a small amount compared to the revenue these companies bring in each year.

The budget of the foundation is $2 million dollars annually while retail chocolate sales reach over $14 billion a year. The foundation trains farmers in Africa; however it is common for the programs to be interrupted by civil war. http://easyhomebasedbusinessopportunities.

com/home-business These programs concentrate on shade-grown cocoa and other diverse crops such as bananas. The reason for diversifying crops is that cacao is only harvested twice a year, having other crops that can be harvested at other times of the year can provide a more steady income. Thank you, http://easyhomebasedbusinessopportunities.com/home-business.

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