If few chocolate lovers understand the hard work that goes into producing their favourite treat, even fewer hard-toiling cocoa bean farmers get to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
That is, until a correspondent for Metropolis, a Dutch news program with reporters filing from around the world, travelled to the cocoa bean fields in M’batto, Ivory Coast to introduce farmers to their first chocolate bar.
Ivory Coast produces 1.6 million tons of cocoa beans every year, according to reporter Selay Marius Kouassi, making the West African nation the world’s largest exporter.
Kouassi visited with cocoa bean farmer Alfonse, who struggles to get by on 7 euros a day, with which he has to support 15 family members and four labourers on his farm.
With an average cost in Ivory Coast of 2 euros, a chocolate bar is a luxury he cannot afford.
In the video footage, Kouassi is seen presenting Alfonse with his first bar.
“Ooooh, it’s nice,” Alfonse says with a smile. “Yes, it’s very sweet. Mmm. I did not know that cocoa was so yummy.”
Alfonse insists that he and Kouassi share the treat with nearby farmers, and they hop on his motorbike.
When introducing the bar, Alfonse says: “This is why white people are so healthy.”
