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Mint-Price: 500 MATIC
Among all registrations we raffle 1000 whitelist spots.
Among all registrations we raffle 1000 whitelist spots.
Global sales of chocolate are estimated at 130 billion US dollars. 60% of this is generated by the Big 5 of the chocolate industry: Mars, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Ferrero and Hersheys. Retailers also play a decisive role in the market with their own brands.
This concentrated market power is opposed by approximately 5.5 million smallholder farmers, for whom in many cases cocoa cultivation is the most important source of income. However, only 6-7% of the price we pay for a bar of chocolate reaches the cocoa farmer. The majority, almost 80%, is shared by manufacturers and retailers. The farmer has hardly any influence on the price. Cocoa is traded on the stock exchange, turning the livelihood of 5.5 million families into an object of speculation.
For a long time, the cultivation of cocoa in West Africa was considered a guarantee for a secure income. But since 1980, the price of cocoa has fallen by almost half, adjusted for inflation. Strong price fluctuations lead to low planning and income security for cocoa farmers. From mid-2015 to the end of 2017 alone, the cocoa price fell by 40%. The falling cocoa price had dramatic consequences in the growing countries. Farmers suffered massive income losses.
A fair price for cocoa
It is quite simple: A price is fair if it guarantees a living wage for cocoa farmers. A living income must cover the basic needs of cocoa farming families. These include adequate housing, healthy and sufficient nutrition, clean drinking water, adequate health care, education, mobility, and the ability to build up savings for crop failure or illness. But investment costs in the cocoa plantation must also be covered.
The Fairtrade certification organization calculates that a cocoa farming family in Côte d’Ivoire producing adequate yields on sufficient land should receive an ex-farm price of $2,200 per ton of cocoa. In fact, however, the farm-gate price for a ton of cocoa in April 2021 was only $1,350.
A typical cocoa farming family in Ghana with six members and up to four hectares of land earns the equivalent of $191 per month on average. By contrast, an income of around $395 – i.e. slightly more than twice as much – would be enough to secure a livelihood.
Coffee is the world’s most important commodity. Across the globe, 2.25 billion cups of coffee are drunk every day in a wide variety of forms. The industry is booming, with no end in sight. But the coffee farmers, who harvest the valuable beans mainly in South America, Africa and India, are not benefiting from this boom. Instead, the big „coffee producers“ such as Reimann and Nestlé are profiting from the black gold business with margins of up to 20%.
Like cocoa, coffee is traded on the stock exchange in News York. And there is only one law that applies to the big and powerful players in the coffee market: maximize the margin by buying as cheaply as possible. For the benefit of the profits of a few, coffee farmers are left with barely enough money to live on. Just 6% of the retail price reaches the coffee farmers. Although the price of a pound of coffee beans has stabilized at over $2 in 2022, the money is still barely enough for the bare necessities. Most of them slave away every day and still live below the poverty line.
Coffee cultivation means above all a lot of work
The precious coffee cherries are picked individually and by hand. After peeling and drying, the entire harvest has to be sorted by hand. The working days are long, from 6 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, regardless of whether it is raining or the sun is blazing down. In Mexico, for example, a coffee farmer is left with only about $3 per day.
But where does all the money go? Everywhere else, but hardly with those who grow and harvest the coffee:
1. taxes, duties and freight costs (44.9%)
2. retail trade (23.7%)
3. traders and roasters (17.8%)
4. plantation owners (8.5%)
5. wages of workers (5.1%)
By far the largest share of the coffee price, almost 45%, is taken up by taxes, customs duties and freight costs. At the end of the chain are the wages of the workers on the coffee farms, which account for only about 5% of the coffee price.
Let’s stay in Mexico for a moment: Here, the farmers have to sell their coffee to middlemen. Not the farmer, but the middlemen determine the price. The farmers have to accept the prices because of a lack of alternatives. And even with alternatives, they would hardly know any better. Many of them never went to school, can neither read nor calculate, and are simply not familiar with the prices.
Even if this is only one example, the situation of coffee farmers worldwide is the same: All of them work for a starvation wage so that multinational corporations and their stakeholders can fill their pockets. Poverty, exploitation and the constant fear that it will not be enough to live on determine everyday life.
Every person has the right to live from his work. And not just to survive somehow, but to live well. And not only him, but also his family. Unfortunately, this is not included in our broken system. Hmm…can’t anything be done? Um, oh yes there can. We can’t change the world or stop capitalism – but what we can do is:
1. effect change in small ways,
2. raise awareness about the problem of exploitation and
3. guarantee coffee and cocoa farmers a good, fair and decent wage.
Okay, sounds good. So how do we do that?
1. We buy coffee and cocoa plantations. The farmers are employed on a permanent basis. This way we can guarantee them a fair wage, regardless of the harvest yield. In addition, they receive a share of the company’s profits.
2. We import the harvest to Europe without middlemen and tell their story there to raise awareness for truly fair trade.
3. From the profit we buy more plantations and invest in the existing ones to enable more and more farmers to earn a fair income.
This all costs quite a lot of money. To take the first steps, we created Random Rabbits.
A computer-generated Profile Picture Collection of 10,000 Rabbits, randomly assembled from 145 different traits. When you buy a Random Rabbit NFT, you don’t just get a unique profile picture for your social media channels. But no, my friend, the Random Rabbits are much more.
1. With a Random Rabbit as a profile picture you show your friends: Look, I’m a good guy.
2. You have the full copyright for your Rabbit. Print him on mugs or shirts, build a brand around him or make him a musical star. Whatever you want.
3. You get exclusive access to our community, you can exchange ideas with like-minded people.
4. You get the best coffee and the most delicious cocoa for free, month after month. How much depends on the harvest.
5. Every year you get a share of the company’s profit in MATIC directly into your wallet. How much depends on the rarity of your Rabbit and the profit.
So what are you waiting for? Register right now and win one of 1000 whitelist seats (maximum 10 mints per seat).