Chocolate lovers will be able to enjoy Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate with a clear conscience later this year when Ireland’s top selling chocolate bar is expected to achieve Fairtrade certification. The same commitment is also being made for Britain.
This move will see a tripling in the sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system. Fairtrade certification will contribute to improving livelihoods and enabling farmers both to implement sustainable agricultural practices and to improve life in the wider community.
Irish Fairtrade Mark sales are expected to increase by 45% as a direct result of this move. Faitrade Mark Ireland and Stop the Traffik are delighted that, after years of campaigning, this significant step has been taken by Cadbury’s. They now hope to see Mars, Nestle, Lindt and Hershey take the same steps to put human rights before profit. See fairtrade.ie and stopthetraffik.org.
As consumers, we can play an important part in pressurising chocolate producers to turn Fairtrade by voting with our purses – until Cadbury’s Dairy Milk achieves the Fairtrade Mark, we can choose Divine chocolate, Green & Black’s and other Fairtrade brands.