Chocolatey Rumors
The Truth
The Problems of the Chocolate Industry
Many rumors have been spread through the years, but none as terrifying as this: child labor and trafficking. Children in Africa have been trafficked from their homes to work on cocoa plantations illegally, but of course no one is willing to admit to this, the government, the chocolate companies, nobody. People have tried to stand against this, but the government and companies take action against the spreading of the truth.
The Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast is one of the world's leading cocoa manufacturers, and has hundreds and even thousands of children working illegally on their plantations from being trafficked from neighboring countries.
Mali
Mali is one of the greatest routes for traffickers to take children through. Children are taken buy buses and unofficial roadways by traffickers who are protected by the local militias who benefit from their work.
The Ivorian Government
The Ivorian Government does know about child labor and trafficking problems but aren't willing to admit it. Agreements have been made with neighboring countries against trafficking, but still it continues.
The Economics of Chocolate
Money, Money, Money
The Ivory Coast's income is made mostly from chocolate; at first the cocoa is sold for 1 euro/kilo, then it's washed and sold again for 2.5 euro/kilo, lastly created into chocolate by chocolate companies such as Nestlé, Hershey, and Mars. One kilo of cocoa is equivalent to 40 chocolate bars. The Ivory Coast also creates 40% of all cocoa from Africa, from which 70% of all the world's chocolate is from Africa. The cocoa producers make boat-loads of money, but what do the plantation workers make? Barely anything to nothing. But there new "problems" arising, such as the growing demand for chocolate; people are consuming more chocolate than what's being made and what's being made is declining. The prices of the chocolate will rise but that won't be a problem for most chocolate consumers because they love chocolate so much they will still be willing to buy it.