????可可產量的提高還能以其他方式造福當地社區。例如，可可樹會消耗土壤營養成分，因此與其他作物間種時長勢更好。這意味著，與可可樹健康生長有利益關系的廠商需要與當地政府和非政府組織合作，從整體上去鼓勵可持續農業，而不是只盯著可可。

????扶持當地社區的教育事業也會幫助巧克力廠商。世界可可基金會總裁比爾?古伊頓表示，可可種植者的平均年齡大概是50歲。在理想情況下，教育計劃可以保證，20年之后將有整整一代可可種植者為這些公司效力。

????教育是雙向的。“坦率地說，我們在西非的實際存在沒有達到應有的水平，”好時公關副總裁麥克科米克稱，不過，可可鏈中就包含了在西非設立研發中心的計劃。“為了研制新的產品配方，我們對可可進行了許多研究。我們將會用好旗下的種植園，使我們的科學家能與農民和土地更緊密地聯系起來。”

慈善與企業利益能否兼得？

????對巧克力廠商來說，上述措施顯然具有商業上的價值，可對當地農民來說，究竟有多大幫助呢？巧克力行業在西非的歷史并不光彩。世界可可基金會成立之際，也就是2000年左右，美國國會獲得的報告顯示，西非可可種植園存在嚴重違反反童工法的現象。某些案例中，有第三方用卡車將兒童成批運地送到生產可可的地區。據報道，許多兒童遭到壓榨，被迫工作卻拿不到報酬。還有一些從事可可種植的家庭鼓勵孩子一起到園中工作，揮舞砍刀、接觸農藥，往往使孩子們置于危險的境地。

????僅靠巧克力廠商確保反童工法頗為困難，但它們有義務為此付出努力。“企業應該在童工問題中發揮一定的作用，他們也確實在這么做，”蓋伊頓說。“這是企業與非洲各國政府以及存在問題的地區共同的責任。”

????不過，共擔責任可能會使標準的推行相當困難。如果當地政府沒有滿足美國標準的反童工法律，情況就更為復雜了。消費者和非政府組織對企業提高透明度的呼聲越來越強烈，因此大公司（在這方面）的投資對公司有好處。從生意角度來看，這些公司承擔不起訴訟和負面報道的后果。

????尼日利亞大學（the University of Nigeria）經濟學教授、布魯金斯非洲增長中心（the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative）的研究員奧斯塔?奧格布指出，財富500強中那些渴求可可的公司可以成為有益的力量。他說：“一切有助于提高可可種植者生產效率，既能提高農村居民收入，同時又致力于解決環境問題的東西我們都歡迎。”

????此外，成功推行慈善事業也要求營利性組織、非政府組織、當地人民和政府通力合作，而這正是巧克力行業追求的。

????不過，只有巧克力廠商拓展思路，不再局限于幫助農民，而是開始在當地生產巧克力，可持續發展才能取得真正的進展。奧格布指出，只有這樣才能為西非國家帶來更多利潤，創造更多就業機會。“有沒有可能，可可種植者的子女不再當農民，而是在巧克力工廠工作？”他認為，那將標志著真正符合可持續標準的Kiss問世。

????譯者：小宇

????Improving cocoa yields can help communities in other ways. For example, the crop depletes the soil of nutrients, so it grows best on plots with other plants. This means that companies with a vested interest in healthy cocoa need to work with governments and NGOs to encourage sustainable farming in general, not just for cocoa.

????Companies also benefit from supporting education in local communities. The average age of cocoa farmers is about fifty, says Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation. In an ideal situation, education programs can ensure that there is a generation of cocoa farmers for these corporate players to work with 20 years from now.

????Education goes both ways. "Candidly, we don't have as big of a physical presence in West Africa as we should," says Hershey's McCormick. But part of COCOALINK involves setting up research centers in West Africa. "We're doing a heck of a lot of cocoa research for future product formulations," he says. "We're going to use our farm to get our scientists closer to the farmers and the farm."

Philanthropy vs. taking care of business: room for both?

????There's clearly a business case for companies, but how far will these efforts go towards helping farmers? The chocolate industry has an ugly history in West Africa. Around 2000, when the WCF formed, Congress received reports of serious violations of child labor laws on West African cocoa farms. In some cases, third parties were trucking children in to cocoa-producing regions and reports said that many kids were exploited and forced to work without pay. In other cases, cocoa-farming families encouraged children to work with them in the fields, often putting them in dangerous situations: wielding machetes, exposure to pesticides.

????It can be difficult for companies alone to enforce child labor laws, but they will have to push to do so. "Companies do need to play a role in the child labor issue and they are," Guyton says. "It's a shared responsibility with the African governments and also the communities where it happens."

????But sharing responsibility can make it difficult to enforce standards, especially when governments don't have child labor laws that meet U.S. standards. Big corporate investment could deliver benefits because of increased transparency demands from consumers and NGOs. From a business standpoint, these companies can't afford lawsuits and bad public exposure.

????Fortune 500 cocoa-hungry companies stand to be a force for good, says Osita Ogbu, an economics professor at the University of Nigeria and a fellow with the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative. "Anything that improves the productivity of cocoa farmers that increases the rural income, and at the same time addresses environmental scarcity, is welcome," he says.

????And successful philanthropy often requires for-profit organizations, NGOs, local people and governments to work together, a path that the chocolate industry is pursuing.

????But the real step towards sustainability will come when companies expand their thinking beyond helping farmers and start to manufacture chocolate locally. That's where you'll start to see significant profit margins for West Africans and job creation, says Ogbu. "Is it possible that the sons of daughters of cocoa farmers will not be cocoa farmers but will work in chocolate factories?" That, he says, will mark the beginning of a truly sustainable Kiss.