FAQ

In Switzerland, Austria, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia and many other European countries. We also produce chocolate for a number of other brands, meaning we are now available on 4 continents. Just not always under our own brand :)

The payment of auxiliary workers (who, in addition to harvesting, also mainly take care of the plantations) is a matter of negotiation between the workers and the plantation owners. Most often in Ghana, all farmers help each other and pay each other with mutual labor, so people always work in the community, which is considered very important. Working alone is practically non-existent in Ghana.

An example from Suhum: During a visit to Suhum near Accra in early 2017, I, Hendrik (founder of fairafric), asked an elderly plantation owner, who due to her age can no longer work herself, what it costs her to have the farm completely weeded. She pays a worker 20 Cedi a day and cooks a meal for each, which should be worth about 5 Cedi. The statutory minimum wage in Ghana was raised from 7 to 8 Cedi (approx. US$2) per day in January 2017. 20 Cedi for a day laborer is relatively much in Ghana. She needed 5 workers for 5 days.

Exports currently account for about 20%, with an upward trend.

Child labor is absolutely taboo for fairafric, there is zero tolerance for it. There hasn't been a single case in years on the farms we work with. Generally speaking, child labor is less of a problem in Ghana as a whole than in the neighboring countries of Ivory Coast and Togo.

The most significant thing is that our farmers have understood that investments and education pay off. Investments in resources and better farming methods bring higher yields. And investments in their children and their education bring significantly more than their labor on the plantations. Thanks to the additional income that our farmers achieve through their organic certification and training in efficient, sustainable agriculture, they can afford a long education for their children. Already today, individual children of our farmers have a university degree!

Our experience shows that if we pay farmers more for cocoa, they invest this additional income in their children's education. They know the importance of education for their children, and they make sure no school day is missed.

Since 2017, we have been working with approximately 861 farmers who are organized in the partner initiative Yayra Glover. We now work with Serendipalm. In addition to organic farming, a focus is placed on dynamic agroforestry, and the initiative also trains farmers in farm management to increase cocoa yield and quality, thereby raising farmers' incomes.

We are convinced that the best way out of poverty in many African countries is to shift the entire value chain to those countries. That is why we buy cocoa from farmers we know, pay a bonus of USD 600 per ton of cocoa, and can trace every bean back to the plantation.

We transport all ingredients to our factory in Ghana, where the chocolate is then produced and finally packaged on site. This increases Africa's income from a bar of chocolate by a factor of 4 compared to conventional chocolate. We also increase Africa's income many times more compared to Fairtrade.

By moving value creation to Ghana, significantly more money stays in the country. Our partner farmers receive higher prices for their cocoa, additional bonuses for organic quality, and access to training in sustainable farm management. In the factory, skilled, secure jobs are created. The additional income flows into education, health, and better living conditions for families – thereby strengthening entire communities in the long term, not just individual farms.

We work with fixed partner cooperatives and know the farms our cocoa comes from. Every delivery is documented and traceable back to the respective growing region – and to the individual farm. Through our own production in Ghana, we maintain control over the entire chain: from purchasing the beans to processing and the finished bar. In this way, we create transparency, trust, and genuine traceability instead of anonymous commodity flows.

Almost half of the net price (approximately 43%). For an average chocolate bar, this is only about 6%. For fair trade chocolate, it can be 7 to 8%. To ensure the country of origin receives a truly fair share of your chocolate, we bring all the well-paid jobs in processing and production to Ghana.

So that retailers can cover their costs (buildings, personnel, capital costs, etc.), they receive approximately 42% of the net purchase price. fairafric AG needs the remaining 15% to cover costs for sales, marketing, certifications, transport, storage, and personnel.

We sell the bar for €1.62 net to all our retailers. This is within the industry average. This means that retailers receive slightly less than one third of the net purchase price to cover their costs (building, personnel, capital costs, ...).

Cocoa and production in Africa account for slightly more than one third (the average is 6% arriving in Africa), and fairafric AG needs the remaining third to cover costs for sales, marketing, certifications, transport, storage, and personnel.

For fairafric, the focus is on shifting value creation to Africa. From bean to bar in Africa! By producing locally, we create skilled and well-paid jobs.

According to the World Bank, each of these jobs creates an additional 2.8 jobs in supplier companies. The increased income enables our employees to provide their children with access to further education. We are convinced that education is the sustainable way out of poverty.

The farmers go through the organic certification process and are supported by our bonus of $600 per tonne of cocoa. In addition, investments are made in the training of the farmers. This benefits the yield and quality. And it pays off for the farmers; they generate additional income through their own efforts.

We asked them what they would do first with the increased income. The answer was education; the education of their children is paramount for our farmers.

Our approach goes beyond any certification. Firstly, we pay our farmers higher prices per ton of cocoa than the seals. Our purchase price is always at least 600 USD above the world market price. The absolutely crucial point is that we relocate the entire production and thus 100% of the value creation to Africa.

This creates qualified and well-paid jobs in Africa, in addition to farm work, in the production of finished products. Unfortunately, these jobs are not created by conventional manufacturers or even by conventional providers of Fairtrade chocolate in Europe or the USA. We want to change that. We produce from bean to bar in Africa.

Because we make chocolate differently. With conventional chocolate, on average only about 6% of the price reaches the country of origin. With fairafric, almost half of the net price goes to Ghana – into cocoa, processing, and well-paid jobs. We pay our farmers significantly higher prices, invest in training, produce with renewable energy in our own factory, and maintain high quality and safety standards. This costs more than cheap raw materials and anonymous mass production – but it creates real impact, better quality, and chocolate that isn't based on exploitation.

💡 Be part of the movement

Follow our #roadtoclimatepositive initiative and stay up to date on every step – from the transition to Dynamic Agroforestry (DAF) to achieving full climate-positive value creation, or invest directly in fairafric.

Our Road to Climate Positive describes our journey to capture more CO₂ than we emit. To achieve this, we are continuously working across the entire value chain – from cocoa cultivation to production and transport – to reduce, avoid, and offset emissions.

We rely on dynamic agroforestry systems where cocoa grows in a diverse ecosystem. This promotes biodiversity, improves soil quality, and actively sequesters CO₂ in soils and plants. At the same time, it leads to more stable yields and more resilient farms for our partner farmers.

Our chocolate is produced in a solar-powered factory in Ghana. This way, we reduce emissions directly during manufacturing and show that industrial food production is also possible with renewable energy.

We continuously optimize packaging, logistics, and processes to reduce emissions. We offset unavoidable emissions – for example, during transport – through climate protection projects. In this way, we are gradually moving closer to our goal of producing climate-positive chocolate.

You can support us on several levels: by buying and recommending our chocolate, by sharing our mission – or by getting directly involved. Through our financing models such as shares, climate loans or our Schokoschein, you can invest in building a climate-positive chocolate ecosystem and become part of the movement that is sustainably changing the chocolate industry.

fairafric is owned by a community of founders, employees, and many dedicated supporters who share our mission. Our share structure ensures that no individual large investors can dictate the company's direction - and that our values remain protected in the long term.

Would you like to become part of our community? Here's how to invest in fairafric.

Our mission is to build a 360° climate-positive chocolate ecosystem and create 10,000 jobs in Africa. For us, "Decolonize Chocolate" means that value creation, expertise, and profits no longer remain solely in the Global North, but are generated where the cocoa grows. This way, we produce chocolate that is good for you, for people, and for the planet.

We use fair organic cane sugar from Pure Life in Mozambique. This is delivered to our factory in Ghana and processed there for our chocolates – transparent, fair, and organic.

Yes, 100%. All our ingredients are GMO-free. This is fully documented and regularly checked as part of our organic certification.

MOSH/MOAH are mineral oil hydrocarbons that can enter food in trace amounts due to environmental factors, packaging, or machine oils. A certain baseline contamination cannot be completely avoided across the industry. In our own modern factory in Ghana, regular testing for MOSH/MOAH is an integral part of quality management. Our production processes and controls comply with strict European and international standards – ensuring our chocolate is safe, high-quality, and harmless.

This is a matter of taste – but for our dark chocolate varieties, we recommend slightly above room temperature, i.e., over 25 °C. This allows the aromas to develop particularly well. If you want to store the chocolate, keep it in a dry and cool place.

All our chocolates are made without milk and are therefore completely vegan and lactose-free. We do not use gluten-containing ingredients, but we cannot completely rule out traces due to production processes. You will always find the exact details transparently displayed on the respective product page.