The Ugly side of Sao Tome’s Dark Chocolate

The islands of Republic of Sãotomé and Príncipe, off the Gulf of Guinea, are as much known for high quality chocolates as for its boundless natural beauty. At some point, it was the world's largest cocoa producer and aptly named the chocolate islands.

(Raghu Gururaj)

Even today, Sao Tome is replete with cocoa farms. Due to its rich volcanic soil and location, Príncipe island is better suited for cultivation of premium cocoa. Most of the cocoa of the world is grown in the strip of land between the tropics & Príncipe island.

Cocoa is one of the economic drivers of SaoTome's economy. The dark chocolate bars from Sao Tomé and Principe are sheer heaven for those who love intense chocolate flavours. Over 70% of São Tomé's chocolates have a complex flavour, rich in roasted cocoa and with plenty of refreshing fruity flavours including apricot, red fruits, citrus and even a hint of tea.

To delve a little into history, after the Portuguese colonised these uninhabited islands in 1500s, they soon came under pressure to make it profitable. Their administrators initially managed to create sugar plantations. Without a native population, they brought slaves from African mainland, including Angola and Congo to work in newly created sugar 'fazendas' (farms). 

(Google pictures)

From the middle of 16th century, Sao Tome became Africa's largest producer of sugar. This predominance did not last long as the slave labour grew too restless, even violent, due to poor working conditions as also due to growing competition from other regions like Brazil. By the mid-1500s, São Tomé’s sugar production declined.

Portuguese administrators continued searching for activities that would generate income. In 1780 they introduced coffee production. Somewhere around early 1800s, these lovely African islands became the first to import cocoa from Brazil. As demand for cocao increased in the late 1800s, Portuguese investors bought farm land to grow cocoa using the same slaves. In 1824, cocoa was successfully grown on Príncipe.

Cocoa was grown in 'rocas' or estates, which operated as self-sufficient units with all production facilities. Soon São Tomé and Príncipe gained fame as the principal supplier of cocoa for Great Britain’s three largest chocolate makers at that time - J.S. Fry and Sons, Rowntree and the Cadbury Brothers. For several years, this tiny Portuguese colony was the world’s most important source of chocolate’s basic ingredient.

(Raghu Gururaj)

However, just as with sugar plantations, the owners could not sustain and control the slave labour on the cocoa farms. When slavery was abolished within all Portuguese colonies in 1869, cocoa industry faltered due to lack of farm labour.

But Sao Tome's dark chocolate hid a dark and ugly secret. Its cocoa industry thrived only because of men and women toiling on humid plantations, who were subject to slave-like conditions.

(Google pictures)

Quite oblivious to the presence of such inhumane working conditions, European and British chocolate makers continued importing cocoa beans from the islands.

But soon the stories of slave-like conditions became known to everyone in Europe. It was said that in 1901, William Cadbury saw an advertisement listing buildings, equipment, and some hundred workers as assets of a São Tomé plantation that was for sale. Soon, European chocolate producers imposed a boycott on imports from São Tomé and Príncipe.

(Raghu Gururaj)

However, plantation owners in Saotome managed to increase exports to new chocolate producers in America. By 1913, São Tomé and Príncipe became the world’s largest cacao producer, exporting more than 36,500 tons in a single year. But a host of factors soon brought about its downfall in 1935.

After independence in 1975, a lack of investment and collapsing global prices witnessed the gradual downturn in São Tome's cocoa industry. After decadent growth between early 1890s to 1975, Saotome has seen a remarkable resurgence, primarily driven by efforts and enterprise of a few chocolate businessmen.

Claudio Corallo, an Italian coffee merchant, bought a plantation in 1997 and cultivated Cocoa. With the growing popularity of cocoa, he was able to put Sao Tome back on the global chocolate map. Well known chocolatier François Pralus came up with a chocolate bar featuring a map of Saotome.

Ghanaian company Divine launched a new range of organic, high-quality dark chocolate bars in 2018. On Principé Island, South African IT billionaire and astronaut Mark Shuttleworth's HBD have invested in sustainable tourism and the cocoa sector. Even cocoa safaris are being organized.

The tiny economy of this island nation is dependent on exports of cocoa at around US $ 1.3 million (75% of total exports). From being a flag post for slavery and forced labour to a clean and modern producer of premium cocoa, Saotome has come a long way.

Today, cocoa is connected to everyone on the exotic islands in some way or the other. The challenge for the government is to maintain sufficient investments in the sector coming in, maintain its exclusive quality and bet on cocoa value added products.