Specific cases: cocoa, banana, and water

José Gómez Cerda

General Secretary WFAFW-FEMTAA 

Cocoa:

The European Parliament agrees to replace cocoa in the elaboration of chocolate.

On March 15 2000, the European Parliament granted a license to produce chocolate with shortening instead of cocoa. This is considered a victory for multinational corporations and a defeat for chocolate consumers and millions of small producers and workers from the cocoa industry of poor countries.

 New chocolate manufacturing ingredients are cheaper and have less quality than cocoa. These are characteristics that benefit manufacturers rather than consumers, which will have to pay the same price for a product that is not pure and without even knowing about it.

 According to studies conducted by English institutions, the search for new markets – specially the Chinese – to sell their chocolate encourage companies to pay more attention to manufacturing benefits than to consumer safety. Thus, by using shortening, they will be able to produce cheaper and very competitive chocolate, in spite of its low quality.

 Countries like Belgium and France have always supported the manufacturing of chocolate without cocoa substitutes, whereas the British and Irish spearheaded the list of eurodeputies that approve the use of new ingredients in chocolate.

From now on, manufacturers will able to use shortening to replace cocoa in the production of chocolate.  

 Cocoa producers

Cocoa was discovered in 1519 by Spanish explorers who were in contact with the Aztec Empire. Chocolate was invented soon afterwards by mixing cocoa with sugar.

Since then, chocolate and cocoa have been present in the daily diet of people all over the world. Cocoa production started to increase in the 19^th century, due to the development of the chocolate industry in Europe. Brazil and Ecuador were leading producing countries.  Colonizers then take it to Africa.

Cocoa is first taken to Ghana by Swiss missionaries. Then, it is taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. 

 Today, cocoa is grown in only a few places. In fact, 10 countries add up 93% of world production.

 Main cocoa-producing countries

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Most cocoa–producing countries place their product in the international market, so it is considered an exporting good.

 Many African economies depend on cocoa. For Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast, cocoa is the main product for export.

Cocoa is exported as a bean, and it is only processed in Brazil and Ivory Coast.  With the exception of Brazil, domestic consumption of cocoa is very low among producing countries.

 In Africa, some 1,200,000 families depend on the production of cocoa, which is mainly cultivated in family plantations of around 10 to 12 acres.

 Since cocoa production is vital to these communities, people who work for this industry take good care of cocoa trees, and put their best during the recollection, fermentation, and drying process of seeds. The result is the best cocoa in the world.

In Asia, plantations are larger and more productive. Despite of being the last to become part of the top ten most important cocoa producing countries, Malaysia and Indonesia share 16% of the world production.

 However, these countries do not depend exclusively on cocoa, for they have a more diversified economy.

 In these two Asian countries, plantations are located outside the boundaries of forests. Two tree species are used: the cocoa tree, and a bigger variety to give the first one shade.

 Brazil is the leading cocoa producer in Latin America. In this country, crops are usually extensive, like those of Asian countries.

 In terms of production, Mexico and some Amazonian countries, such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, also have significant outputs.

 Living conditions for rural population in these countries are very harsh.

Families of farm workers who cultivate this tropical tree do not escape this tendency, specially since the decline of prices.

 The decision taken by the European Parliament, by which cocoa can be replaced with shortening, will affect not only consumers in Europe, but third-world country workers as well. 

Banana:

The banana conflict:

In April 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) backed the United States in the commercial conflict between this country and the European Union. It is the banana conflict.

This decision has raised a lot of controversy in the trading and production sectors, for it deals with fundamental human and social issues.

Americans are risking too much, even in terms of relations with Europe. The United States is using World Trade Organization regulations as an overwhelming force to help the richest countries crush those that more vulnerable.

Bananas from Latin America have a better appearance and are low-priced. Therefore, they pose a threat to the production of the European Union and the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) that signed and agreement on trade and aid during the Lomé Convention in 1975.

In 1993, the European Union adopted a common market organization (CMO) to protect their banana production and that of their ACP associates by establishing quotas and import levies on products coming from Latin America.

This decision taken by the European Union has distorted the rules of the market, although it suits perfectly their concept of social justice. The European Union considers that when it comes to cooperation, fair exporting prices must be guaranteed. This action, however, goes against other sectors, and therefore, it cannot be called social justice. 

It is true that production costs are higher in the Caribbean islands than in some Latin American countries, but that is not so in Africa.

It is also true that multinational corporations control the banana production in Latin America and that labor force exploitation is widespread. Living, working and sanitary conditions are catastrophic. Pesticides are sprayed by planes while banana producers are working below, resulting in the death of many laborers. Others have become sick or sterile. Women have also become sterile because of the undue use of pesticides; many have given birth to babies with malformations.

The banana industry in Latin America is characterized by trade union repression on behalf of multinational corporations.

Within the last few years, almost ten unionists that belonged to organizations affiliated to the WFAFW have been murdered. Among them, Medardo Valera, a banana trade union leader from Honduras.

Two people whose identities are still unknown shot Medardo Varela, the head of a movement that got American banana companies to compensate thousands of workers affected by the undue use of pest control chemicals.

The European Union was accused by the United States before the World Trade Organization with the argument that free trade prohibits discrimination against producers (those working for multinational corporations). Although the debates were technical, the final decision was a political one.

The European Union agreed to modify its present banana import procedures after learning the ruling of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body, which favored the United States. 

Backed by the decision of the Dispute Settlement Body, the United States government began to impose import levies in March 1999 on a list of European imports in order to compensate losses allegedly suffered by American companies due to the banana import restriction imposed by the European Union.

The Dispute Settlement Body estimated damages at 191 million dollars, much less than U.S. officials’ estimations of 520 million dollars. However, banana producing countries, those actually affected, have not received any compensation.

During the last five years, Europe and the United States have engaged in a struggle over banana production, a fruit that is not even produced by either of them, and there is also no risk of losing jobs for either side. 

Those who are most affected by this struggle between these economic giants are the small English and French–speaking producers in the Caribbean, whose output only represents 3% of the worldwide production and whose share of the European Union market reaches only 7%.

According to the World Bank, for every 100 dollars received by Caribbean producers, 12.25 dollars go to intermediaries, such as Fyffes, a multinational corporation.

This ruling shows that free trade is more important than the development of countries.

Some think it is a gift from the WTO to celebrate the centennial of the Chiquita corporation.

The WTO ruling goes along with the principles of this organization, whose role is to guarantee an international foreign exchange without obstacles nor discrimination. Doesn’t this, in spite of being legal, have serious social repercussions on banana plantation workers, and on the development of countries depending on this industry?

Behind the banana conflict, there is a strife between protectionism and globalization, and a need to establish which principles are sufficiently important to legitimate free trade. We can refer to the case of genetically–modified organisms (GMOs), and that of hormone–treated meat, which can be exported from the United States to Europe, thanks to an authorization granted by the WTO.  

  Water:

The insufficiency of water

We appeal to the public conscience in relation to the problem of water, particularly to the scarcity of this element in poor countries.

 The World Federation for Agriculture, Food, Hotel and Allied Workers (WFAFW), which is affiliated to the World Labor Confederation (WLC), has invited its member organizations all over the world to reflect on the issue of water.

 According to the FAO, there is enough fresh water in the planet to support a population several times lager than the present one. However, due to an unequal distribution of rainfall, contamination and the exhaustion of soils, water has become a scarce element in many countries. The best solution to this problem is to preserve it.

 97% of the water in the world is present in the form of saltwater, which cannot be used directly by the general population, 1.7% is found in the ice caps and polar regions, and only 0.4% is fresh water, found in rivers, lakes, swamps, the subsoil, the atmosphere, and in living creatures. Even though there is significant amount of water in the world, we can only use a small portion of it.

 The hydrological cycle is the natural system by which water is evaporated by the Sun and recycled. It evaporates from the soil and the sea, and it returns pollution–free in the form of snow or rainfall.

 However, most rainfall occurs during strong storms, and much of it is lost in floods and in inhabited areas. Although it is a quantity more than sufficient for human consumption, many do not benefit from this cycle, for 600 million people live in dry areas of the planet.

 Water is used for raising crops, so its role in agriculture is fundamental. A more equal distribution of water resources will depend on how efficiently we use it.

The increase in human and livestock population along with erosion, excessive grazing, reforestation, huge fires, and the expansion of agriculture to marginal lands not suitable for raising crops are provoking the exhaustion of soils.

 The human cost of droughts is very high. Millions of people have become “environmental refugees” due to the local scarcity of resources. In most cases, refugees suffer from several diseases, malnutrition, and various physical disabilities.

One sixth of the world’s farmlands are irrigated lands. There, production has increased to meet the food demands of the population. But at the same time water consumption has also elevated. Irrigated lands are as twice as productive as rainfed  farmlands.

 One billion  people living in rural areas do not have access to drinking water in their homes. The time employed to search for water could be used in other more productive activities, such as plowing the land, putting animals out to pasture or taking care the children.  Water is a basic resource for human life in rural areas of the world. The lack of fresh water supply sources turn women into slaves, limits the family production of food, and hampers the development of rural industries.

 Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource essential to the support of life, human development and the environment.

 All users, including trade unions, social organizations and officials, should participate in the development and management of water resources.

 Women play an important role in the recollection, administration and protection of water. Unfortunately, three million people die every year due to insanitary water consumption.

Water is still one of the most concerning issues of civilization. Its insanitary conditions kill more than three million people a year. It is a problem that, coupled with its scarcity (1,200 million people do not have access to drinking water), will worsen with population growth (3,000 million more people will live on this planet in the next 25 years).

 Such insufficiency will have serious repercussions in Africa, where two out of three people living in rural areas do not have regular access to drinking water.

 Farmers, unionists and women should play an active role in any decision that could affect the working and living conditions in the agricultural sector. We all should promote awareness on the importance of water.

 The international community should take urgent measures to ensure that future generations live in a world with a sufficient water supply.

jose.gomez@skynet.be