West Africa is the home of cocoa.
Roughly 60% of the world’s cocoa supply comes from Ghana and Ivory Coast.
But farmers there complain they’re not getting paid fairly for their crops.
“You need to plant other crops like cocoyam or plantain, in order to cater for the needs of your family,” says Michael Kwarteng, a 24-year-old cocoa farmer in Sefwi Bekwai, Ghana.
By some estimates, many African farmers make less than a dollar a day from growing cocoa.
“[The challenges] I saw in the field 20 years ago are still almost the same,” says Cylvestine Njei, who runs a project to support cocoa farmers in Cameroon.
“[Cocoa] farming is a bit of a challenge in my country, to say the least.”
And yet, the chocolate industry makes billions and billions of dollars around the world.
So, where’s the money going? And how can the farmers get a larger slice of the (chocolate) cake?
Source: BBC
