Empire State

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spread Nearly three-quarters of The World 's hazelnuts come from Turkey and the largest buyer of Ferrero, maker of Nutella , the chocolate and hazelnut. But The Nuts are picked, especially by migrants, including children, Work long hours for very low pay. What Ferrero is doing to ensure That its products are not made by Child Labour ?

"If we say, 'hazelnut', in my understanding, it means misery: hard Work , a worker," says Mehmet Kelekci when he was a 35-kg bag of freshly picked walnuts on his back.

Around him, high on a Turkish mountain, A Family of fellow Kurdish labour migrants moved slowly under the hazelnut trees. The Father is with a wooden crutch, they shake the branches over his head; his wife and children-bend double or squat, as you reach down to select the clusters of nuts in their pale green husks That cascade to the floor.

Mehmet Kelekci, and a 35-kg bag

It is exhausting Work , for about 10 hours per day, on slopes so steep, That to lose it easy your grip.

" And two of the pickers, Mustafa and Mohammed, are working illegally. You are at the age of just 12 and 10, and at the bottom of the Turkey minimum age.

This is a typical scene in August, when The Harvest is brought in along the Black Sea coast of Turkey, which provides the origin of the 70% of The World 's hazelnut.

Most of the pickers are seasonal migrants from the impoverished South and the East of Turkey, especially the Kurds.

The official wage of local authorities, 95 Lira (£13; $16; €15) is set A Day . Worked out on an hourly basis, which is Less than the official Turkish minimum net-salary of 2,020 Lira a month for a 40-or 45-hour week.

But this family will get even Less - a maximum of 65 Lira per day each, and may be as little as 50 - After you have paid a 10% Commission, the Work of the contractor, the brings you, and the travel costs to and from their home city of Sanliurfa, and the cost of living while you are away.

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Kazim Yaman, co-owner of The Orchard , says he is against Child Labour . "Make your children Work as machines. You think: 'How many children, how much profit?'"

But, he says, most of The Other farmers to accept - and he has no way to pay to The Children , because their parents insist That they Work .

"I'm not trying to Work you, but then you say you leave," he says. "Mother and father want you to Work and to pay for it. "

He adds: "This chain must be Broken . "

Kazim Yaman, hazelnut farmer

But how? Turkey has about gardens of 400,000 in the possession of the family of hazelnut fruit. Most, like Kazim, are tiny, only a few acres. Many breeders, like him, do not know where your nuts at the end.

At The Other end of the often complex supply chain, are well-known Turkish and international confectionery brands such as Ferrero - The Italian family business That manufactures Nutella , Ferrero Rocher and Kinder-chocolate. Ferrero buys approximately a third of the total Turkish crop. It has. The amount of Nutella makes it every year, the same weighs as the Empire State Building, about 365,000 tons.

On your website, Ferrero, do not grow or trade nuts himself says, "the traceability is vital to the quality standards of production and products. "

The Company aims for its hazelnuts, and 100% traceable up to the year 2020. Currently, if, according to its latest report, which will be released soon, it has only 39% achieved traceability.

If you are After the purchase of The Chain , it is not clear how it's supposed to go That far.

Enginay Akcay, headquartered in Ordu, a Black nuts, sea city, depending on hazel, is one of thousands of small, independent nut-dealer, known as manavs. Farmers deliver their harvest in sacks, and he pays you depending on the quality of all major weight proportion of shells to the Kernel prior to the sale to the formation of cracks factories, or directly to exporters, such as Ferrero.

Enginay Akcay calculated the ratio of shell to kernel

But he says That Ferrero asked him what, in particular, the farmers come to The Nuts , or the working conditions on these farms.

"It has nothing to do With Us , children Work . The Control and monitoring belongs to The State and the security forces. "

Further up The Chain of brokers such as Osman Cakmak are. He buys from distributors and sells Ferrero and others exporters and manufacturers.

He also says That Ferrero ask him, the farmers grew The Nuts That he sells.

"I could sell. In this moment, it is impossible to be monitored for the tons of hazelnuts," he says.

As for Ferrero, he adds: "If you do not have own agricultural value projects, it is not possible to know which manufacturer they come from. "

Ferrero-flagship-farming-values-program, started in Turkey in the year 2012, offers free training sessions for hazelnut growers in more efficient cultivation techniques to help you increase your income to want to, although you remain free to sell their nuts to whoever you.

On one of the farms model, developed by Ferrero, The Company , agronomist Gokhan Arikoglu shows how, with better cutting, irrigation, and Pest Control - a hazel tree can produce clusters of up to 21 nuts. Traditionally-run farms, four in a cluster is more typical.

Gokhan Arikoglu with a cluster of 10 hazelnuts

Work with non-governmental organizations, and other institutions, Ferrero also makes the breeders, agricultural workers, labour contractors, traders, brokers and others in the community, such as village heads, and to be aware of how the sector more sustainable can be made. The training on the rights of the workers, and in particular the prevention of Child Labour . The Company strives to ensure the inclusion of women, including the women, the farmers, in their training programs.

Ferrero says, the program has achieved so far, More Than 42,000 farmers. That 's about a 10th of the 400,000 in Turkey.

So, how secure may be The Company , That his hazelnuts are not elected, by The Children ?

Nutella is 13% hazelnuts - it also contains sugar, Palm Oil and cocoa

In a rare interview by one of the companies, says executives, Bamsi Akin, general manager of the Ferrero hazelnut business in Turkey: "If we find a product That is manufactured with unethical practices, we wouldn't touch it. We are in the process of our role to improve the social practices with training... But The System is completely clean? I think no one can say That in this moment. "

the broker Asked, who told the BBC That Ferrero will ask you for the exact source of The Nuts , as she says: "We have no questions, but we have the tools to monitor from a different perspective... Before the season started, we talked to them [the dealers], and we have shown, our social practice requirements. "

He says Ferrero has purchased the name of the interim trade it, and can a list, "in addition to the trade secret page". But he adds: "I can not guarantee, the full name of the farmers. "

As if the demands of traceability on the website of The Company are honest, he says: "Ferrero is always honest on the consumer Side . "

On the road under his orchard with views of the Black Sea , farmer Kazim Yaman watch 12-year-old Mustafa is empty again, a heavy sack of nuts.

He says with regret: "The Other day I saw The Father put a bag, a very heavy bag on the shoulders of The Child . I said: 'What are you doing?" And he said: 'Let him get used to it. '"

Yaman, says Ferrero invited him to participate in the farming-values-program, but he refused. How many other breeders, he belongs to an older Generation - he is in his 60s - That 's change, suspicious to.

He says: "The Chain is not interrupted with the efforts of one or Two People , but In Time , perhaps, it is Broken , The Chain . "

Meanwhile , another family of Kurdish pickers movement is in the small wooden hut without electricity, is the home to six People - a mother, adult son, two adult daughters and two minor children, for the next month.

I ask The Mother , Ayse, how often do you eat chocolate with hazelnuts.

"I personally don't like it," she replies with a laugh. "The Suffering and misery I have with this product, I don't want to see it. "

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turkey, child labour

Source of news: bbc.com