The bitterness of the African chocolate

Côte d'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast) - a small country in West Africa with a population of 20 million inhabitants - is the largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans in the world. The chocolate industry in this country has come under public scrutiny because of the exploitation of child labor - there was talk even of child slavery. However, the government says it has settled all problems.

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1. The boys split the fruit of the tree of chocolate while collecting cocoa farm in Cote d'Ivoire. (Jessica Dimmock / VII Network)





2. Each year in the US sales of chocolate bring $ 13 billion. However, the origin of chocolate is not so charmingly, like those candies that your favorite will give you for Valentine's Day. Cocoa beans are sweet and juicy fruit in a solid peel - fruit. Farmer knocks the fruit from the tree, and then splits the peel with a large machete. Then the cocoa beans are separated from the pulp and left to dry, and then prepare to export. About 70% of chocolate around the world are brought from West Africa, about 40% of them - with a small plantations of Côte d'Ivoire.



3. These shade-loving fruits grow in a humid tropical zone in the southern part of the country. About 10 5 million people in Western Africa work small family plantations, cocoa beans, the area which is typically 7-12 acres. Workers go deep into the forest to buy cocoa beans from farmers and sell them to exporters. Often workers come here in such wrangles with a broken car.



4.Lyudi Toui go in the city, Côte d'Ivoire, where there are several companies in the production of cocoa beans. Cocoa - one of the two main sources of income of Côte d'Ivoire. Second - coffee, but this business is not very profitable, and farmers' life easy. In many villages there is no electricity, water, minimum sanitation and schools. Prices for cocoa is quite sensitive to economic fluctuations, and Côte d'Ivoire farmers receive only 40% of the profits that rotates in London and New York.



5. The Côte d'Ivoire has come under public scrutiny because of the exploitation of child labor. Many families can not afford to pay for school, so that instead of studying their children work in the fields, waving machetes and all day dragging gravity. 11-year-old Traour Kassum shows scars on his legs, obtained while working in the field, where he was forced to work alone, but from where he escaped. He lives in a homeless shelter in the financial capital of the Ivory Coast - Abidjan.



6.Zdanie company "Cargill" - one of the few large exporters in Côte d'Ivoire - behind high walls. In "Cargill" prohibited exploitation of child labor - the official working age of 18 years. However, this law is ignored. The chocolate industry, governments and organizations of civil rights created an international campaign aimed at solving the problem, however, child labor is still exploited. Large companies like "Cargill" do not own plantations, so officially they do not hire workers. They are just buying cocoa beans from the workers. Yet human rights activists say that the responsibility for improving working conditions is precisely at such companies.



7. The 17-year-old Dominique Komen is in a homeless shelter in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. He began work on cocoa plantations in 14 years but left because of the incredibly harsh conditions. The so-called "Cocoa Protocol", created in 2001, aims to ban child labor in the production, but many critics, including the International Trade Union says the opposite. According to reports in 2008, many children still work in the plantations, skip school and are injured at work.



8. After collection of the cocoa beans, the pulp and seeds are allowed to dry in the sun for several days. Workers from Le Ssiri, Côte d'Ivoire, shake beans in a heap on the canvas, to accelerate the drying process and prepare for shipment. Each year the world produces about 3 million tons of cocoa - and nearly 1, 3 million of them - in Côte d'Ivoire.



9. First, the cocoa goes through several stages of selection, and then sent to the 4 largest buyers-Côte d'Ivoire - the company "Saf-cocoa", "Cargill", "Archer Daniels Midland" and "Barry ranging."



10. Boy sweeps scattered cocoa beans stock company "Saf-Cocoa" in San Pedro - one of the main centers of export Ivory Coast.



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