HEMA in Conversation with Fairtrade Cocoa Farmer Felix Tetteh from Ghana About Fair Cocoa
As the holiday season approaches and stores fill up with chocolate letters, HEMA is taking an important step toward a more transparent and sustainable cocoa supply chain. This year, all cocoa used in HEMA’s chocolate letters has been purchased through Tony’s Open Chain and is Fairtrade certified. To share the story behind this decision more widely, HEMA welcomed Ghanaian cocoa farmer Felix Tetteh on 19 November. The cocoa beans from his farm were used for this year’s HEMA chocolate letters.
The 28-year-old Ghanaian cocoa farmer and Fairtrade Youth Ambassador Felix travelled to the Netherlands specifically to share his personal story about life on a cocoa farm, the challenges farmers face, and the positive impact Fairtrade has on his income, cooperative, and community. Together with representatives from Fairtrade Netherlands, Felix illustrated what fair trade looks like in practice and how HEMA’s sourcing choices directly contribute to improved living conditions for cocoa farmers and their families.
Felix grew up on his parents’ cocoa farm in Ghana as one of five children. All three sons entered cocoa farming, and Felix started his own small-scale farm at the age of eighteen. Many cocoa farmers in his region live on an average of just 0.76 dollars a day, and his family also had to make do for years with an insufficient and unpredictable income. Now that they are Fairtrade-certified cocoa farmers, Felix was finally able to do something that had long seemed out of reach: attend university.
During the visit, Felix spoke candidly about the conditions many cocoa farmers work in: how extreme droughts can severely affect the harvest, and how high labour costs and international regulations make it difficult for farmers to make ends meet. His story highlighted the vulnerabilities that exist within the cocoa supply chain and why structural improvements are essential—especially at the source. As Felix expressed it: “I am proud to be a cocoa farmer, because I feed the world.”
Fairtrade Netherlands explained how local Fairtrade teams support farmers like Felix. Farmer organisations receive a minimum price and a premium for community investments, such as schools. Fairtrade’s goal is structural change in food systems such as cocoa: strengthening farmers’ positions, improving incomes, and supporting them in shaping their future with more knowledge, security, and decision-making power.
With the session, HEMA reaffirmed its ambition to make a positive contribution to the cocoa supply chain, particularly in the areas where that impact is most needed. By working with organisations like Fairtrade and Tony’s Open Chain, HEMA continues to build on transparency, better working conditions, and sustainable agricultural practices. The insights shared by Felix and Fairtrade Netherlands once again highlighted that fair trade is not only a choice for today but also an investment in a sustainable supply chain for the future.
