One day before Valentine's Day, the first farmer-owned and fair-trade chocolate company announced the launch of its U.S. sister company. Divine Chocolate, a U.K. based company formerly known as The Day Chocolate Company, makes its debut in the U.S. in partnership with Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a non-profit development agency.

The announcement made at a Capitol Hill briefing, sponsored by Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, was coupled with a discussion about the benefits of fair trade and farmer ownership.

Comfort Kumeah was among those representing the company at the briefing. Kumeah is a 55-year-old mother of five, teacher, and member of the Ghanaian farm collective that grows the cocoa used to make Divine Chocolate. Kumeah knows first hand the journey of chocolate from bean to bar. As a member of Kuapa Kokoo, she is involved in all aspects of chocolate production, from cutting the cocoa pods from the tree and scraping the bean from the pod, to fermenting, drying, weighing, and preparing the cocoa for export.

Most fair trade arrangements provide growers like Kumeah with a living wage in addition to premiums that villages use to improve their standard of living. Unlike most fair trade arrangements, Kumeah's involvement does not stop there.

In 1997, some Ghanaian cocoa farmers voted to change the chocolate industry forever by establishing their own fair trade chocolate company, now called Divine Chocolate. By joining together in the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa growers' cooperative, the farmers acquired a voice in the operation and future of their company. Kumeah is one of 2,000 Kuapa Kokoo farmers chosen to represent their farm village at Divine Chocolate's annual meetings.