Consumption without child labor:
Kafee, tea, cocoa and chocolate
Around 5.5 million farmers are growing cocoa and the demand for cocoa and chocolate increases. Years ago, large manufacturers moved news about child labor on cocoa lantes in West Africa to carry out programs against child labor. So far they seem to have remained ineffective. According to a new study by the Norc University of Chicago, ten percent more children are working in the ivory coast and Ghana today. 1.48 million girls and boys grow cocoa and harvest the beans. Two thirds of the cocoa that is consumed in Germany (drinks and chocolate) come from this region.
Coffee is grown 80 percent of 25 million small farmers. Most of them earn less than $ 2 a day and are only 10 cents above the border to absolute poverty, as defined by the UN. Children work in both small companies and on coffee plantations. Child labor is occupied in the cultivation of coffee for Brazil, Costa Rica, ivory coast, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.
After water, tea is the mostly consumed drinks in the world with 15,000 cups per second. Unlike coffee and cocoa, tea is mostly grown on plantations. Just like coffee and cocoa, pickers earn hunger wages and child labor is common. In addition, workers are often heavily dependent on the tea garden owners because they live on their property. Child labor in tea gardens in India, the second largest tea producer in the world to China, as well as in Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.
Small farmers and plantation workers are among the poorest worldwide and, despite hard work, are only just above the border to absolute poverty. The children work in many families. The children are particularly threatened by child labor. The parents only find work for a few days and often have to fulfill such a chord that children have to work. Employers refuse any social security, such as health or accident insurance. The families move from one job to the next. Hiking workers and their families are rarely registered at their work locations. In this way, farmers and municipalities do not feel responsible, for example for health care or the children's school attendance.
Adults and children who work in conventional agriculture are often exposed to toxins. Plants are sprayed several times a season without protecting protection measures for workers. Agriculture is a main driver for the global loss of biodiversity and is responsible for about a third of the entire greenhouse gas emissions . Non -sustainable intensive agriculture, factory farming, the conversion of forest into arable land (for example for the cultivation of soy and palm oil) lead to massive ecological damage.
Fair trade offers coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate. About 70 percent of fairly traded coffees, teas and chocolates are also biologically grown. Fair trade supports small farmers and plantation workers who adhere to basic labor rights and grant social security. Fair trade continues than the social seal.
Higher prices and a surcharge enable the payment of fairer wages and the structure of important infrastructure, such as health stations and schools. This is how fair trade has a double act against child labor. Parents who earn enough do not have to send their children to work. And the controllers of the certification organizations ensure that employers also go along and do not employ children.
Fair trade products
Fairtrade International , the largest international fair trade association, reaches 1.66 million small farmers and plantation workers in 1,400 producer organizations.
Fairtrade stands for:
- Prohibition of exploitative child labor and forced labor
- Compliance with core work standards (freedom of association, freedom of negotiation)
- Occupational safety and social security
- Prefinancing of the harvest and stable minimum prices as a safety net against price drops. The higher price is paid for higher world market prices.
- Payment of a Fairtrade bonus for a joint project by the cooperative or workers promotion of sustainable cultivation practices and surcharge for biological cultivation
- Transparency of the supply chain

Coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate and confectionery made of fair trade can be found in almost all supermarkets, organic and world shops, in online shops and delicatessen shops and are offered in many cafés, coffee chains, bakeries, hotels and canteens.
Here you will find Fairtrade products and Fairtrade dealers
Other Fairtrade certificates and dealers:
- GEPA - The Fair Trade Company
- El Puente
- World shop
- Fair for Life
- Ethiquable
- Naturland fair
- Contigo
- Weltpartner eG
In some cities, initiatives sell fairly traded coffee: in Hamburg, for example, Café Libertad Collective EG and El-Rojito . In Düsseldorf Mocino , in Berlin Oekotopia .
Rainforest Alliance
The green frog on the seal of Rainforest Alliance stands for sustainable agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity. The Rainforest Standard contains ecological and social criteria, including the core work standards including the ban on child labor, integrated environmental management systems, water and animal protection.