Easter chocolate: ‘We might not have chocolate forever’, warns charity, as we’re urged to shop smart
Across the UK, around half of us plan to buy some form of Easter chocolate for ourselves or others. While cost is a huge factor for us here, charity groups warn the treats we love so much won't be available forever if we don't shop smart. We're being urged to think of the farmers when we make our purchases.
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00:00 This Easter, what we'd really love is for shoppers across the UK to buy a Fair Trade Easter egg.
00:06 That would make the biggest difference for cocoa farmers who at the moment are facing
00:09 real challenges with climate change and the cost of living crisis.
00:13 The Fair Trade mark on a pack means that Fair Trade standards have been met and for cocoa
00:17 that includes a minimum price for the cocoa that people are selling and also a premium
00:23 that they can invest in their communities or in their businesses.
00:26 And at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet, the Fair Trade minimum price
00:31 is a real safety net for them.
00:32 There's a lot of things that we're taking into consideration when we're out shopping,
00:36 but why is shopping Fair Trade something that we should start looking for and start thinking
00:40 about if we're not already?
00:42 I think there's lots of reasons.
00:43 The main reason is that we want there to be cocoa in the future and I think for cocoa
00:47 farmers to farm sustainably, they need to be able to afford to be farmers.
00:52 Obviously for us and our kids, we want there to be chocolate in the future so that we can
00:57 keep eating these delicious Easter eggs.
01:00 We're all aware of how the cost of living has affected us here, but is it something
01:04 that's also having an impact abroad as well?
01:07 Very much, very much.
01:09 In countries like Ghana, inflation has absolutely rocketed.
01:12 The cost of pesticides and seeds, everything is going up and up.
01:17 And obviously that's a massive challenge for farmers as it is for us shoppers in the UK.
01:22 With costs and climate change continuing to be bigger issues as time goes on for farmers
01:26 and us here in the UK, experts want to impress upon us how important talking to our little
01:31 ones is about the future of our planet.
01:34 We did research recently that says that over half of parents are talking to their kids
01:40 about the challenges that farmers in supply chains are facing, but Easter's a really good
01:44 time to introduce that topic and I think kids know better than anyone when things aren't
01:49 fair, so it's a really important topic to bring up with them.
01:53 And like I said, we want kids to have cocoa in the future so the more they can safeguard
01:58 the livelihoods of farmers, the better.