Sweet success for anti-slavery lobby

Britain's major chocolate-makers have endorsed an initiative to phase out slavery and child labour in cocoa plantations in West Africa after intense pressure from civil rights groups.

Industry associations, whose members include Cadbury Schweppes, Mars and Nestlé, signed an agreement with the International Labour Organisation this month to persuade cocoa-growers to eliminate illegal labour practices by 2005.

The worst-affected country is Côte d'Ivoire, which produces about half the world's cocoa, where slaves are said to be sold for as little as £20 to work on some of the country's 750,000 small cocoa plantations. Similar illegal practices have been uncovered in neighbouring Ghana.

The initiative, which is supported by both country's governments, has headed off a potentially damaging campaign by anti-slavery and anti-poverty groups, which had considered calling for a boycott of firms such as Cadbury and Mars. But the industry, which sold £3.7bn worth of chocolates last year, faces accusations in the Commons tomorrow that it has failed to act quickly enough.

In an adjournment debate, the Labour MPs Chris Pond and Oona King will also urge consumers to buy only "fair trade" chocolate, effectively a boycott in all but name.

Mr Pond, a former director of the Low Pay Unit, claimed the industry had to be pressured to act more quickly. "These producers, who are quite powerful, are in a position to ensure their supplies aren't based on poor labour standards," he said.

Bob Eagle, a spokesman for the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolates and Confectionery Alliance, Britain's main industry body, said it accepted that slavery had to be abolished but wanted to do so responsibly. "We don't want to make the situation worse. The last thing we want to do is have an adverse impact on the vast majority of farmers who use good practices."

Under the deal, the industry's main trade bodies will set up a joint foundation by 1 July to introduce pilot projects in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana before this September's harvest begins, aimed at persuading cocoa farmers to pay decent wages, set up producer co-operatives and improve production techniques. This would help farmers increase their share of the market price for cocoa.

Anti-Slavery International, a London-based charity, claimed that the volatility of the market price for cocoa is partly to blame for the use of slavery. Its price has fluctuated from as much as $5,000 (£3,400) per ton in the Seventies down to below $900 a ton in December 2000. It now costs about $1,500.