Kit Kat gives cocoa farmers a break as it switches to Fairtrade

Published on Sunday 6 December 2009 21:53

BRITAIN'S biggest-selling chocolate biscuit is going Fairtrade in the new year in a "breakthrough" for the campaign to promote fairly traded goods.

From mid-January, Nestl's Kit Kat bars will bear the famous Fairtrade logo, boosting thousands of farmers in the Ivory Coast where the firm buys cocoa.

About a billion bars of the York-based brand are sold in this country every year, and Fairtrade campaigners hope today's announcement will persuade other food companies to follow suit.

Harriet Lamb, of the Fairtrade Foundation, estimated that farmers would receive hundreds of thousands of pounds more next year as a result.

"The significant volumes of cocoa that go into making Kit Kat will open whole new possibilities for these farmers, giving them a more sustainable livelihood and the chance to plan for a better future."

Ms Lamb said she hoped the decision by Nestl, which follows a move to switch production of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bars to Fairtrade earlier this year, would start to "tip the balance" in the cocoa trade.

David Rennie, managing director of Nestl Confectionery, said: "Nestl sells more Kit Kats in the UK than anywhere else in the world and I am delighted that, following the launch of the global Cocoa Plan, Kit Kat – our leading confectionery brand – will now be Fairtrade-certified in the UK and Ireland.

"UK consumers are increasingly interested in how we source and manufacture their favourite products. Over 6,000 Ivorian farmers will benefit immediately as a result of today's announcement."

The Fairtrade mark now appears on more than 4,500 products in the UK, 15 years after it was launched. Under the Fairtrade terms, farmers receive a guaranteed minimum price plus a premium of more than 100 a tonne, which is used for business or social development products.