In ‘Chocolate and child labour’ (The Broker 12), Erwin Bulte tries to outline the relationship between chocolate consumption and child labour in the cocoa-growing regions of West Africa. In contrast with the rice grown in Vietnam, he writes, ‘much of African cocoa is grown on plantations, and the road from plantation to chocolate bar is firmly dominated by a handful of multinational firms’. Empirical evidence (ICCO reports, personal observations) indicates that more than 90% of all cocoa in West Africa is grown by smallholders with farms of no more than 3 hectares. Hardly a plantation structure with non-unionized workers!

Nevertheless it is true that a handful of multinational firms dominate the international cocoa market. So, in order to reduce the use of child labour in the African cocoa-growing regions, we should strengthen the (income) position of small farmers and take up the issue with the multinationals. Meanwhile, we should trust our dentist on his dental knowledge but not on his assessment of the economics of the cocoa chain.

Dick de Graaf, a retired trade union official who negotiated with Dutch cocoa processing companies