U.K.'s Co-operative Group Switches to Fair-Trade Cocoa

Manchester, U.K.-based Co-operative Group—which is comprised of thousands of businesses that include food retailers, dairies, non-food retailers, travel agencies, banks and companies in other sectors—has struck a deal with Kuapa Kokoo, a cocoa co-operative in Ghana, in order to convert its own brand of chocolate to fair trade. The co-op boasts 2,400 food retailers.

“It's a historic step and we're the first retailer in the world to do this,” states Co-op Group's Terry Hudghton in a Nov. 26 article at BBC News online. The BBC points out that farmers in Ghana who earn fair-trade wages, which are more than the market average, currently make less than $200 per year.

“If the major manufacturers were to carry just one fair-trade product in their range, the benefits for the poverty-stricken cocoa growers would be phenomenal," states Hudghton, via a Nov. 27 article at FoodandDrinkEurope.com.