In a move that will deliver a transparent peephole to a product's make up and trackable token that transform farmer's lives, the UNDP has joined FairChain Foundation and Federación apeosae líder en producción orgánica in an experiment to shift the chocolate value chain back towards growers and local manufacturers.The Other Bar is manufacturing locally in Ecuador and uses blockchain to create track-able codes so a cocoa farmer can now literally benefit directly from sales of chocolate related to his own plants.
Right now, on average, only about 3% of the contents of that chocolate bar we scoff without a thought goes to the original farmer - and more ridiculously, many of the cocoa farmers live in poverty as they don't go close to earning a living wage.
Most of the cost of a chocolate bar is marketing it to you and that's the issue. Founder of the FairChain Foundation Giudo, says:
“GLOBAL BRANDS SPEND MORE THAN £500 BILLION A YEAR ON MARKETING. WE ONLY NEED £140 BILLION TO END GLOBAL POVERTY. SO HOW COOL WOULD IT BE IF WE COULD CONVINCE MANUFACTURERS TO INVEST SOME OF THEIR MARKETING CASH ON POSITIVE IMPACT? ULTIMATELY, WE BELIEVE THIS IS WHAT CONSUMERS WANT.”
The astronomical rise in the sales of ethical, sustainable and eco products is well documented. As transparency becomes more and more important, the irony is that big brand marketing will lift the sales of products like The Other Bar.Consumers increasingly care about where their food comes from and are increasingly aware that a great chocolate bar ad campaign might not be telling any of the real story of the food - especially if it includes smiling happy growers. The quote from Jorge Castillo, an Ecuadorian farmer on The Other Bar website sums up the plight of cocoa producers in Ecuador: “MY SON HAS A GREAT DESIRE TO BECOME A COCOA PRODUCER LIKE ME. BUT WHEN I LOOK AT HIM I SEE ONLY TWO OPTIONS: EITHER HE LEAVES HIS FAMILY AND MOVES TO THE CITY TO FIND A JOB, OR HE STAYS HERE AND INHERITS POVERTY FROM ME."
Each bar of chocolate has a digital token - QR Code - which can be used to donate money to the farmers in Ecuador who produced the cocoa in the bar or for a discount on next purchase. Either way, the token is worth 25% of a tree, so 4 chocolate bars buys one tree for a farmer.
The Other Bar is an experiment and only 20,000 bars will go on sale from 14th October. You can sign up for notifications. One can only assume they will sell out in about 10 minutes.