One day before Valentine's Day, the first farmer-owned and fair-trade chocolate company announced the launch of its U.S. sister company. Divine Chocolate, a U.K. based company formerly known as The Day Chocolate Company, makes its debut in the U.S. in partnership with Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a non-profit development agency.
The announcement made at a Capitol Hill briefing, sponsored by Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, was coupled with a discussion about the benefits of fair trade and farmer ownership.
Comfort Kumeah was among those representing the company at the briefing. Kumeah is a 55-year-old mother of five, teacher, and member of the Ghanaian farm collective that grows the cocoa used to make Divine Chocolate. Kumeah knows first hand the journey of chocolate from bean to bar. As a member of Kuapa Kokoo, she is involved in all aspects of chocolate production, from cutting the cocoa pods from the tree and scraping the bean from the pod, to fermenting, drying, weighing, and preparing the cocoa for export.
Most fair trade arrangements provide growers like Kumeah with a living wage in addition to premiums that villages use to improve their standard of living. Unlike most fair trade arrangements, Kumeah's involvement does not stop there.
In 1997, some Ghanaian cocoa farmers voted to change the chocolate industry forever by establishing their own fair trade chocolate company, now called Divine Chocolate. By joining together in the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa growers' cooperative, the farmers acquired a voice in the operation and future of their company. Kumeah is one of 2,000 Kuapa Kokoo farmers chosen to represent their farm village at Divine Chocolate's annual meetings.
Kumeah says that before fair trade, "we growers were cheated. People adjusted the scales. We got little money from the purchasing clerks and no bonuses. The growers' welfare was neglected."
Divine Chocolate has taken the fair trade model one step further by giving farmers like Kumeah the opportunity to own a share of the company, to make decisions about how Divine chocolate will be manufactured and sold, and to help shape the company's future.
Kumeah says that now growers can save money and borrow from the Kuapo Kokoo Credit Union during the "lean season" as well as share in the company's profits.
Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of The U.K.-based Divine Chocolate Limited, said that Kuapa Kokoo farmers own 45 percent of shares in the U.K. company and 33 percent of shares in the newly launched U.S. company.
In addition to the US launch, the company is rolling out a whole new look. The packaging of the bars in now adorned with traditional West African Adinkra symbols. Each symbol has a different meaning, such as "democracy and shared destiny," "learning from the past," "endurance and perseverance," and "the sanctity of Mother Earth."
This year's launch of Divine Chocolate USA coincides with the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence from British rule.
The launch also coincides with the donation of shares of the company by one of the Day Company's founding partners back to the Kaupa KoKoo farmers, giving them an even larger share of the company and helping to achieve Divine's long-term goal of helping cocoa farmers "work their way out of poverty."
Customers who are used to buying Divine products through fair trade organizations can now purchase the chocolate in Washington, DC. Divine USA opened its doors in October 2006 at the heart of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, at 1730 Connecticut Ave NW. Their website is http://www.divinechocolateusa.com.
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