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Effort to Repeal Unfair Cocoa Tax in the Dominican Republic |
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Posted: May 23, 2006
 In response to an urgent request from our cocoa trading partner CONACADO, Equal Exchange recently sent a letter to President Leonel Fernandez Reyna of
the Dominican Republic protesting a tax targeted at small and medium cocoa producers on the island. CONACADO has appealed to Equal Exchange and other partners in the natural foods industry for their support in order to repeal this illegal and discriminatory tax. The cocoa tax of $124 per metric ton was imposed by the country's National Cocoa Commission in May of 2004 in response to lobbying by the large export firms who have traditionally dominated the cocoa industry in the Dominican Republic. In recent years, small farmers, largely organized under the CONACADO umbrella have made remarkable inroads taking market share from the large firms who have repeatedly sought to quash the competition.
The CONACADO cooperative, which was founded in 1988, is made up of 15,000 small scale cocoa farmers and currently exports 20% of the country's cocoa
and most of the world's Fair Trade certified organic cocoa. The co-op was organized to help small scale cocoa farmers remain on their land and make a
decent living. For two years CONACADO tried different avenues to attempt to eliminate the punitive cocoa tax. Now it's turning to allies both inside and outside of the Dominican Republic to ask President Fernandez Reyna, to intervene on behalf of small and medium cocoa farmers.
Equal Exchange also encourages individuals to lend their voices to this effort. Messages to the Embassy of the Dominican Republic may be sent by telephone (202-332-6280 x2523), fax (202-265-8057) or email: embdomrepusa@msn.com.
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