Whether whole milk or dark, filled or plain, as balls or in bar form – very few of us can resist chocolate. However, most (conscious) consumers also know that the cocoa business is often very unfair. Why is that? Does it have to be that way? And isn’t that fair for everyone? Let’s find out.
What does “fair” actually mean? Working conditions? Pay? old-age insurance? Safety at work? Or all together? The Duden defines “fair” as “according to the rules of living together; decent, just in dealing with others”. Somehow understandable and also simple. In a globalized world, in which one half lives at the expense of the other half, but far removed from cross-border reality – especially with regard to economic activity. When it comes to products like coffee, clothing and cocoa, the lack of social, economic and environmental sustainability is pervasive. That needs to change! And on all levels.
Our chocolate production is obsolete!

When it comes to chocolate production, we still live behind the moon. Or under neocolonial structures – and thus in unfair structures between the countries of the Global North and the Global South:
70 percent of the cocoa grown worldwide comes from Africa.
The raw materials from Africa are mainly used for the production of goods in the Global North.
Less than one percent of the chocolate grown worldwide is produced in Africa itself.
What’s not fair about it: Neo-colonial economic structures are based on the fact that instead of end products, only raw materials such as cocoa beans are exported from Africa. However, the production of goods makes up the majority of the value added. And this usually does not take place where the raw materials come from – but in the already richer industrialized countries.
Central and West Africa are particularly dependent on the export of raw materials. Here, 95 percent of all export earnings come from the sale of raw materials. And that has serious consequences for countries like Ghana due to the fluctuating world market prices: an insecure national budget, a lack of infrastructure and dependence on imports of industrial products from the Global North.
The farmers are now at the origin of the value chain and have little choice but to sell their cocoa beans at dumping prices. This in turn means that children often work on the plantations, since the yields from the export of raw materials are often not sufficient to pay fair wages. As a result, the children do not go to school, education is missing and with it their future opportunities.
A paradox: consumers accept exploitation despite knowledge
And most consumers know about the unfair structures. Nevertheless, it is this “normal” chocolate that is most often bought worldwide. And this despite the fact that there have long been alternatives.
The Utopia study on the subject of child labor has shown that child labor is mainly suspected in cocoa, coffee and clothing, and conscious consumers want appropriate labelling. Nevertheless: What is bought is what is always bought: Sales of regular chocolate products are significantly higher than those of fair trade products. And that despite the fact that more and more people are turning to Fairtrade chocolate. Unfortunately, the overall share remains very small.
The supply chain law passed in summer 2021 should ensure more transparency and sustainability in the future. Since then, companies have been obliged to set minimum standards and to make their supply chains transparent. However, critics also point to incomplete regulations here: In most cases, it is not clearly communicated where a product comes from and under what conditions it was produced. Because companies do not yet have to be able to prove their supply chains completely up to the cultivation plantation.
Does that mean that we all have to stop eating chocolate? Of course not! There are many alternatives that already do a lot better. And then there’s fairafric – the fair chocolate that’s really fair for everyone.
Fair chocolate for everyone!
Unfortunately, fair trade does not necessarily mean fair. Because even with the “good” chocolates with recognized seals, it mostly remains with the pure trade with the cocoa beans, which are only processed into chocolate in the country of consumption.
It depends on the country of manufacture
As already learned above, fair structures depend above all on where the actual production of goods takes place. An evaluation by Inkota, an association against hunger, poverty and for a fair globalization, shows: With an average chocolate, around six percent of the price paid stays in Africa, with fair trade around seven to eight percent. Fairtrade, for example, pays a premium of around USD 200 per tonne of cocoa to the cocoa cooperative, of which only a fraction reaches the farmers. In a 2018 study, Fairtrade self-critically admitted that around 60 percent of Fairtrade-certified cocoa farming families in Ivory Coast live below the absolute poverty line.
For fairafric, on the other hand, the focus is on relocating value creation to Africa. And so when you buy a bar of fairafric chocolate, 43 percent of the price paid stays in Ghana.
Fair chocolate creates fair work

Fairafric is a German-Ghanaian social business that produces organic chocolate bars in its own solar-powered chocolate factory – in Ghana. Thanks to the on-site production, in addition to the activities on the farms, qualified and well-paid jobs in the production of the finished end products are created in Africa.
The increased income enables employees to give their children access to further education. The sourcing of local ingredients, everything from organic cultivation, and the production in Suhum ensure that the added value remains local and that the entire production is in Ghanaian hands.
fairafric pays the highest cocoa premium in West Africa, namely USD 600 per tonne of cocoa beans. The 861 organic farmers from the partner cooperative Yayra Glover are paid fairly and regularly trained to improve the quality of the cocoa and thus increase the yield and their income. In addition, the fairafric foundation holds shares on behalf of the farmers so that they can share in the profits.
What is “fair” is not something we can sugarcoat in any way. Because it’s only really fair if it applies to everyone involved. With seals, conscious consumers should take a close look at what the seal contains and what exactly it stands for. Fairafric makes it easy – at least when buying chocolate: fairafric is fair for everyone.