Fairtrade's Cocoa Beans Production On The Rise But Its Demand On The Decline. Who Actually Suffers?

The Email-based Interview with Fairtrade Africa- West Africa Network Continues

Continued from Part One

When did Fairtrade start its operations in Ghana?

Fairtrade answered that they started their operations in Ghana in 1995 with the Kuapa Kokoo Cooperatives, with other cooperatives joining the label in 2012 and 2019. However, they entered the Ghanaian Cocoa Market through consultants until they effectively established their office. They didn’t clarify the years they transitioned from working through consultants to owning their operations.

Data on Fairtrade farmers, their cocoa productions, and sales since inception.

I requested the following set of data:

• The annual number of Ghanaian cocoa farmers under Fairtrade (from Fairtrade inception till date)

• The yearly total metric tons of Ghanaian Fairtrade certified cocoa beans produced (From Fairtrade inception till date)

• The annual metric tons of cocoa beans purchased by Fairtrade from the certified cocoa farmers (From Fairtrade inception till date)

First, while I requested that this data be from inception, i.e., 1995, they supplied me with data starting from 2015. I have translated the data into graphs for easy understanding