05 February 2010
Photo: Comfort Kumeah, a Kuapa Kokoo farmer, is visiting the UK with Divine Chocolate this Fairtrade Fortnight.
Divine Chocolate, the leading 100% Fairtrade chocolate company owned by cocoa farmers, is delighted to announce a special programme of events across Britain from 22nd February – 8th March to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight. Comfort Kumeah and Kojo Aduhene-Tano, two cocoa farmers from Ghana, will be in the UK not only to tell their own personal stories, but also to broadcast the unique story of how their co-operative (called Kuapa Kokoo) came to own 45% of Divine Chocolate – and the many benefits that ownership has brought to them and their communities.
Kuapa Kokoo has 45,000 members and supplies all the cocoa for Divine. The two farmers will be talking to a range of audiences - from councillors in Leicester to a concert audience at the Barbican - about how a fairer trading relationship is helping to change lives in Ghana and how this pioneering business model means an even better deal for farmers.
This year the Divine farmers’ tour will be stopping over in London, Leicester, Stamford in Lincolnshire, and the Channel Islands. Divine has been supported by Fairtrade Steering Committees in each location to arrange a variety of special events, talking to schoolchildren, shoppers and retailers, church groups and local businesses, government officials and Fairtrade Steering Groups. And there will be plenty of Divine chocolate to go around!
Full details of the Divine farmers’ tour for Fairtrade Fortnight can be found on the Events Calendar.
The first stop will be Leicester on 24th & 25th February where highlights include a visit to Loughborough University and a Business Lunch for city councillors and business leaders.
Friday 26th and Saturday 27th February see the farmers hosted by Stamford Fairtrade Group in Lincolnshire where they will speak to primary and secondary schoolchildren, take part in a public debate, Does Fair Trade Really Work?, as well as speaking to visitors attending A Very Chocolatey Adventure (truffle making & decorating workshops hosted by Divine’s chocolatiers David Greenwood-Haigh).
On 1st – 3rd March the farmers will be touring the Channel Islands, visiting schoolchildren & shopkeepers, and as guests of honour at public debates & business lectures.
In London the farmers will be attending a Fairtrade Wine Evening at the London School of Economics and a concert sponsored by Divine at the Guildhall School of Music.
Divine Chocolate is the leading Fairtrade chocolate company, and the only Fairtrade chocolate company co-owned by cocoa farmers. Ever since the company was established, farmers have been invited over to join Divine in touring UK and Ireland to support and celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight with local government officials, schools, churches, retailers and the chocolate loving public. The tours continue to prove a hugely popular opportunity for people in all walks of life to hear more about farmers’ lives firsthand. It in turn gives the farmers an insight into our love of chocolate, and how many people here in Britain want to make trade fair.
As well as speaking and attending events during Fairtrade Fortnight, there will be plenty of opportunities to savour Divine, the heavenly chocolate with a heart, made using only the very finest cocoa beans grown by farmers like Comfort Kumeah and Kojo Aduhene-Tano. Farmers who belong to Kuapa Kokoo take their slogan ‘Pa pa paa’ (which means ‘Best of the best’) very seriously, and they will be very pleased that ambassadors are coming to the UK to tell the Divine story to the public as well as sharing out their very special chocolate.
For full details of the Divine farmers’ tour please see the Events Calendar page on the Divine Chocolate website.
Please contact Rosanna Mayhew on 0207 378 6550 for images and more information.
Ends
Editors’ notes
• Divine Chocolate Ltd is the only Fairtrade chocolate company that is also co-owned by cocoa farmers. Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, benefit not only from the Fairtrade premium on the sale of their beans, but also receive a 45% share of Divine’s distributable profits giving the farmers more economic stability, as well as the increased influence in the cocoa industry company-ownership brings
Keep up to date with Divine online:
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• For sales and stockist enquiries contact Alistair
• All Divine products carry the Fairtrade Mark. This is an independent guarantee certified by the Fairtrade Foundation that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed fair trade terms and conditions. These include a guaranteed, secure minimum price, an extra social premium payment for the farmers to invest in their own community programmes, long term trading contracts, decent health and safety conditions – all aimed at empowering farmers to make their own improvements to living standards and prospects for the future
• Divine Chocolate has won a number of prestigious awards. These include Good Housekeeping’s Favourite Fairtrade Product 2008; Best Food Brand in the SHE magazine Ethical Awards 2007; and Best Buy in Ethical Consumer magazine 2009. Divine Chocolate Ltd was awarded Best Social Enterprise 2007 at the Enterprising Solutions awards run by the Office of the Third Sector and The Observer Best Ethical Business 2008. Divine has been voted a Cool Brand 2009-10.
• The UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.6 billion a year: if Fairtrade products can capture even a small proportion of that market, producers in developing countries gain real benefits.