Unbelievably: Cocoa Farmers from the Ivory Coast Tasting Chocolate for the First Time

Cocoa bean farmers are at the bottom of a global supply chain that stands “firmly against [them].” Because the traders, processors, exporters and manufacturers all sit above farmers on that chain and demand a profit margin, farmers have little bargaining power and receive the bare minimum for their product.
N’Da Alphonse, the first farmer to take a bite, says that he doesn’t even know what the cocoa beans he’s working hard to harvest and dry are used for. For all his hard work producing the beans, he only makes 7 euros a day. In M’batto, a bar of chocolate costs two euros.
Kouassi offers him a bar to eat, and he immediately lights up. “I did not know that cocoa was so yummy,” he says. “Delicious.”
He takes another bar to his friends. They’re excited, but suspicious. “Are you really 100 percent sure that this is made from cocoa beans?” one man asks.
The farm workers pass the bar around to each other, marveling at the taste and teasing Kouassi good-naturedly. They break out into a cheer when a third is offered.
“We complain because growing cocoa is hard work,” one of the workers says, having taken his first bite. “Now we enjoy the result. What a privilege to taste it.”