Cocoa beans, sugar, and just a sprinkle of child labor. While most people know that chocolate comes from cocoa beans, they are unaware of the human and economic toll of the product. In Western countries, chocolate symbolizes a reward used to motivate children for good behavior, but in Western Africa it represents an industry that enslaves and imprisons children, exploiting them for free labor.

Chocolate derives from the cacao bean, 70% of which is cultivated in Western Africa, where it accounts for over half of some countries’ Gross Domestic Product. The chocolate industry is extensive and stretches over every continent, earning around $100 billion in annual profits. Unfortunately, the profits are not equally distributed as farmers that grow the crops only receive about 6% of the revenue compared to 35% for manufacturers and 44% for retailers.

The average annual income from cocoa cultivation is approximately $1,000 per farm, translating to about $2.70 per day. This figure is meant to be divided amongst the workers of the farm, which can be as many as a dozen. In order to avoid splitting the profits, some farmers use enslaved children for labor.


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: tiny hand