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The cocoa bean has a very bitter taste and only after fermentation and roasting do the amino acids in the protein give rise to the flavour of chocolate. The conditions of the fermentation and roasting, for example the duration, temperature and acidity, could have an affect on the final flavour.
So much has been said and written about child labor in many different industries in the world. Young children are being exploited in the cruelest way, and this affects not only their “today”, but the rest of their lives as well. They are denied the basic rights of living with their parents and family, of having and education, or having any sort of expectations that most children in the world enjoy.
Pesticides are used in vast quantities in cocoa plantations. Owners of plantations in many countries – especially Africa – are making use of child labor to administer these highly toxic pesticides. There is no thought for their safety – the only thought is that the job must be done, and done as quickly as possible.
Working on a cocoa plantation is very hard work, as harvesting is all done by hand. Children have to harvest the cocoa pods and carry heavy bags full of pods on their backs to the fermenting point. Others have to cut open these hard pods with large knives, that children should not be permitted to handle. Smaller children are used to take the cocoa seeds out of the pods and put them in piles for fermenting.
These children start working in the plantations from a very young age and just carry on year in and year out with the same task. There is no respite for them – as they grow older they will just be given harder tasks.
There are many organizations that have been lobbying for many years to abolish child labor in cocoa plantations. There is progress, but it seems to be done too slowly with not much enthusiasm to completely abolish slavery among children. Child labor in cocoa plantations still takes place in many countries.
It is sad to think that first world countries still buy products from countries that make use of these diabolical practices. Their products should be avoided on the world cocoa markets. It seems like the children of the poor nations have to pay for the wealthy man’s pleasure of enjoying chocolate, which is freely available everywhere.
The Ivorian officials from the Ivory Coast blame the large chocolate manufacturers of the world for the fact that they make use of child labor in cocoa plantations. They insist that in order to keep the prices of cocoa down they have to make use of child labor, as these chocolate tycoons will not pay higher prices for their products.
If they negotiated with these manufacturers an agreement could be met. No chocolate manufacturer from the western world would disagree with a higher price if it would save the children from slavery.
Many West African governments state that they are abolishing slavery and child labor in the cocoa plantations, but there is not enough evidence to prove this. Adults as well as children are still being brought by force into the cocoa plantations to labor there from dawn till dusk.
What is amazing is the fact that all first world countries have strict laws to protect the children of their particular nation. In spite of this fact they do not have any problem buying a product – which is a luxury item – from countries that do not acknowledge the basic rights of human beings. If the world stood together and refused to buy cocoa from any country making use of child labor in cocoa plantations, the governments of these countries would have to reconsider what they are doing in order to sell their cocoa.
