Southeastern Mexico
How is it produced?
The first steps in making chocolate include planting cacao plants and gathering ripe pods. To develop taste and avoid mold, the beans are sun-dried after fermentation. The beans are dried, then roasted to bring out the flavor, broken and winnowed to extract cacao bits. After being ground into a cocoa mass, these nibs are conched to enhance the taste and texture. After that, the mass is tempered to stabilize the cocoa butter crystals and guarantee smoothness and gloss. The chocolate has now been tempered, molded, cooled, solidified, and packaged for delivery.
Describe the supply chain to the store shelf in Canada:
The production of chocolate starts with the fermentation and farming of cocoa in tropical regions, which is then shipped overseas to factories to be processed into chocolate. In Canada, the final goods are packed, shipped to merchants, and put on store shelves with a focus on quality assurance and ethical sourcing.
What is the power balance between the producer and seller?
There is a noticeable power disparity between producers and sellers along the entire chocolate supply chain, which stretches from cocoa plantations in tropical regions to customers worldwide. This imbalance is influenced by a lot of factors.
The plight of cocoa farmers despite being the main producers of a very profitable product, especially in West Africa, frequently live in poverty. Due to the dominance of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the global commodity markets, cocoa bean prices are often low. Farmers are left with little revenue because of this economic inequality, which exacerbates poverty and subpar living circumstances.
The exploitation of children and abusive working conditions have been reported frequently in chocolate production. Farmers are forced to rely on child labor because of the low prices they obtain, which are insufficient to pay for hired labor.
Can you recommend changes to the system to improve the balance?
Enhancing the equilibrium within the chocolate supply chain necessitates resolving moral, financial, and ecological concerns such as;
Farmers cooperatives: Empower cocoa growers, local farmer cooperatives are essential. Farmers who unite can obtain resources and training, bargain more effectively against large purchasers, and negotiate better pricing.
Fair Wages: There is a need to support sustainable lives, and make sure cocoa producers receive fair wages above the market price. This will help reduce the need for farmers to opt for cheap labor (child labor).
References/Resources:
Beckett, S. T. (2008). The Science of Chocolate. Royal Society of Chemistry.
Fiegl, A. (2008), A Brief History of Chocolate. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/
Off, C. (2006). Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most
Seductive Sweet. Vintage Canada. ISBN-13:978-0679313205
Cherie, B. & Steve, C. (2009). Stop the traffik: People shouldn’t be bought and sold. Lion Adult; 1st edition. ISBN-13:978-0825478468
Dr. Jean-Marc, A. (2014), International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). The World Cocoa Economy: Current State and Challenges.
Fairtrade International. Cocoa. Retrieved from https://www.fairtrade.net/product/cocoa
Harkin-Engel, P. (2001). Protocol for the Growing and Processing of Cocoa Beans and their Derivative Products. Retrieved from https://www.cocoainitiative.org/knowledge-hub/resources/harkin-engel-protocol