1/3rdof the world supply of chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast where forced child labor is prevalent.
I get nothing for this, but with current legislation in the news, I’d like to share this letter I received a while ago, when I inquired about where my favorite chocolate comes from, and to bring the matter to your attention generally.
Dear Ms. Cox,
Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in our products. The sourcing of raw materials – their origin, production and quality – is a topic of central importance for the whole Lindt & Sprüngli Group. Your inquiry has been forwarded to me at the Lindt & Sprüngli Headquarter in Switzerland by our daughter company, Ghirardelli. I take this opportunity to give you some Information on the efforts we take in this field:
Lindt & Sprüngli strongly condemns all forms of child labor. We are therefore actively involved in ensuring that child labor no longer has any place in cocoa production. Since 2005 we have sourced our West African cocoa beans – and subsequently our entire supply of consumer cocoa beans – exclusively from Ghana.
Cocoa beans from Ghana meet our high quality standards. One key aspect of our activities is the traceability of cocoa beans. This gives us an opportunity to directly address some of the difficulties associated with the cultivation of cocoa beans. The cocoa farmers, their families and village communities are the focus of our efforts, and one of our top priorities is therefore to ensure that they are able to benefit directly from our financial support.
In 2008, after intensive preparatory work, we launched the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana. By paying a price premium on every ton of cocoa beans purchased from Ghana, this program allows us to promote traceability and verification. Additional funds from the Lindt Cocoa Foundation (http://lindtcocoafoundation.org/) make it possible to improve the living conditions of the farmers and the infrastructure of their local communities. The goal of our program is to boost the crop yields and subsequently the income of cocoa farmers and their families.
Our commitment focuses on the farmers who are not organized in cooperatives: this is the case for around 80-90% of cocoa farmers worldwide. We therefore help these farmers to organize themselves into groups and encourage greater cohesion so that in the future they themselves will be in a position to offer the services, products and the know-how that we currently offer through our program.
Up to the end of 2015, we had already invested over USD 10 million in traceability and verification, as well as in the development of farming communities. This has involved the digging of more than 100 wells for clean drinking water, the distribution of over 38,000 mosquito nets, the reconstruction of a local school and the creation of 20 or more Village Resource Centers equipped with IT facilities for teaching and training use.
More than 45,000 cocoa farmers are registered in the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana. Our local partner for the logistical roll-out of the program is the non-profit organization Source Trust (www.sourcetrust.org).
The following elements are included in the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ghana and help to reduce child labor:
1. Traceability and organization of farmers
a. Registration of farmers.
b. Every bag of cocoa beans is labelled so that we know exactly which village the beans come from.
c. Building a database with information on the farmers and their communities (for example: number and age of cocoa trees, number of children in the farmer’s family, distance to the next school, etc.) These data help us to support the farmers in increasing their productivity and improving their living conditions. It also allows us to assess the risk of child labor more accurately.
2. Promoting specialist knowledge and skills
a. Farmers are trained in good agricultural practices (such as the best way of cultivating cocoa trees), good environmental practices (e.g. handling waste, dealing with wildlife on the farm) and good social practices (for example raising awareness of child labor, health & safety, etc.).
b. Training locals so they can spread specialist knowledge (trainers, monitors, etc.).
3. Community development
a. Farmers receive more extensive support (e.g. access to micro credit, improved planting material, and access to farm shops for better farming equipment).
b. Communities receive support in improving their living conditions (e.g. construction of a school, mosquito nets to combat malaria, wells with clean drinking water, and Village Resource Centers with IT equipment that function as schools during the day and provide agricultural training for farmers in the evenings and at weekends).
4. Internal monitoring and external verification
a. An internal monitoring system is in place with regular visits to the farmers in order to evaluate the progress made regarding good agricultural, social and environmental practices. Remedial measures are introduced if necessary.
b. External audits verify and control the internal monitoring system and check samples of farmers.
One aspect of verification that we consider extremely important is not just internal monitoring, but also external audits. In 2012, for example, Lindt & Sprüngli introduced the audit of its cocoa bean suppliers by independent organizations. The main focus of these external auditors is to check for problems relating to human trafficking, forced labor and the worst forms of child labor. In the 27 external audits carried out during the cocoa harvest season 2014/2015 in Ghana, no child labor violations were discovered at any of our suppliers. We are however aware that these external audits only provide a snapshot of activity at a given moment. We are therefore striving to design our verification system so that it is even more effective in identifying exploitative child labor. Even so, these external controls provide us with a wealth of other basic information as to how we can continue to improve our Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.
Over the coming years we plan to extend the model we have successfully introduced in Ghana to include our entire global supply chain. The visible progress and successes in Ghana have encouraged us to extend the program. In 2014 we launched a pilot project of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in Ecuador, from where we obtain most of our “flavor” cocoa beans.
We would also like to point out that Lindt & Sprüngli has been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2009. This important sustainability initiative submits an annual report to the United Nations on the progress made in 10 global sustainability principles: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/2087-Chocoladefabriken-Lindt-Sprungli-AG.
For example, in setting up the Lindt Cocoa Foundation in 2013, we have established an institution that engages for social and environmental sustainability in the cultivation, production and processing of cocoa beans. Above all, this includes sustainable use of raw materials and fair working and living conditions for cocoa farmers. Information on the current projects can be found by clicking on this link: http://lindtcocoafoundation.org/.
Lindt & Sprüngli has defined clear guidelines on combatting child labor, which are published on our website, at http://www.lindt-spruengli.com/sustainability/. Here you will also find our “Supplier Code of Conduct”. This sets down the criteria that our suppliers are expected to meet in areas such as compliance with laws and regulations, corruption and bribery, social and working conditions, child labor and environmental protection. They must agree in writing to be bound by this Code. At the same time we require the suppliers themselves to ensure that these criteria are also respected by their employees, contractors, subcontractors and other suppliers with whom they cooperate in delivering goods and services to Lindt & Sprüngli.
The cocoa industry is a very complex area and – in spite of all our efforts – we are of course aware that there is still a lot to do. For this reason, we maintain our commitment and continue working hard to constantly improve our cocoa supply chain and the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.
We are confident that our activities make a major contribution to improving the living conditions of the cocoa farmers that grow our cocoa beans and preventing child labor.
We hope this information is of help to you and we are pleased to count you among our valued consumers.
Many regards from Switzerland,
Tullia Mussetola
Corporate Consumer AffairsLindt & Sprüngli (International) AG
Seestrasse 204
Kilchberg 8802
+41 44 716 22 33
If you made it this far, thanks for your interest.