Josef Zotter: „Chocolate can leave a very bitter aftertaste if you consider that cocoa growers work under severe conditions while others profit from the fruits of their labour. That’s why we support fair trade – not because we want to use a showcase product to raise our profile, but because we are convinced that it’s the right choice for our entire product range.“
Global issues affect local production. Cocoa and cane sugar, two of the essential ingredients for making chocolate, cannot be grown in the fields outside the Zotter chocolate factory. That’s why Zotter sources fairly traded ingredients from certified organic production. Since 2001 Zotter has paid regular visits to the cocoa growing regions. For him, quality is paramount from bean to bar. He only buys high-quality cocoa from selected growing cooperatives in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, Dominican Republic, India, Tansania, Uganda, São Tomé and Madagascar.
Our entire business is Fair Trade verified. We are a member of WFTO – the World Fair Trade Organization, which is the umbrella organization for global fair trade. The WFTO monitors business compliance with the 10 principles of fair trade like transparency, respect for the environment, the payment of fair prices and no use of child labour among others. We use our own FAIR logo because we take a step beyond those directives. We want to give our customers the absolute assurance that we pay the world market price many times over, that we can guarantee the highest quality of our raw materials, buy directly from our suppliers and also ensure complete physical traceability. This means our products contain 100% fairly traded, high-quality ingredients.
Our unlimited commitment to fair-trade practices, to the WFTO and their principles are a given and are united in our new FAIR® hand sign as a logo. They reflect Zotter’s credibility and transparency. The WFTO is the only global network consisting of suppliers and producers along the entire fair-trade value-added chain, from production up to retail. The WFTO’s goal is to improve living conditions for disadvantaged producers and suppliers by giving them better market opportunities. At the same time, the WFTO is trying to influence the political landscape in order to attain a long-term improvement of global trading conditions. The WFTO guarantee is a monitoring system for its members, connecting internal and external supervision and oversight to raise the transparency and credibility factor for fair-trade organisations.
The WFTO system consists of several elements, an extensive self-assessment component plus external auditing. To enhance the traceability factor, the WFTO has introduced the supply chain management branch in addition to its 10 basic principles. Within the supply chain management, each member organisation is obligated to create its own internal monitoring system for all suppliers and producers from those disadvantaged geographical regions of the south that do not have a WFTO-recognised oversight system already in place (i.e. Fairtrade International, Naturland Fair etc.). This ensures that the 10 principles are adhered to by every one of these agents. The WFTO audits entire corporations, not just individual products, which means a member company adheres entirely and 100% to fair-trade standards, from top to bottom.
Zotter cultivates very warm and close working relationships with his cocoa farmers. We know that top quality has its price, therefore we pay the global market rate directly to the cocoa farmers. These are not handouts. Instead, we proactively support the autonomous development of our partners. We all want to be able to afford a good life through our hard work, so they should be able to as well. We don’t act like unapproachable, superior buyers, but are equal business partners. Zotter also enthusiastically collaborates on social projects that improve harvest quality, optimise production, foster and safeguard the cultivation of rare fine flavour cocoa varieties like the Criollo and help make the cocoa bean farmers’ living conditions better in the long term. The way for these small farmers to compete with mass products on the global market, is to assert quality. With projects like "Quality not Poverty" in Nicaragua, "Cocoa not Cocaine" in Colombia and "Chocolate for School" in Uganda, Zotter is also actively championing development aid projects.
Josef Zotter: "As a cocoa-processing business, we are responsible for the working and living conditions of our farmers in the south. Fair trade practices represent life-changing opportunities for small farmers and plantation workers in those cocoa bean-producing countries. They are able to emancipate themselves from vacillating global market prices and create a self-determined and secure existence without child labour and environmental exploitation."
For more on this, go to www.wfto.com
