Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-Lca) Of Cocoa Production On Local Community And Workers In Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract

The resulting conflicts, loss of income and dependence on large plantations have a significant impact on the social welfare of many. Social impact of cocoa production is an issue of rising concern around the world due to social aspects around human beings. Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) was conducted to identify the social effects and issues in the cocoa production process along with the system boundaries of the study on S-LCA which best represents the industry’s value in said territory- local community (n = 217) and workers (N = 25). The system boundaries of the study includes cradle-to-gate phases, i.e.  from harvesting plantation to the selected manufacturing factories in Triang and Kuala Lipis, Pahang. The set of questionnaires were distributed among the stakeholders- local community and workers. The items were constructed by adopting a 5 point Likert scale discussing concerned issues according to each social impact categories suggested by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The frequency of point 4 and 5 in Likert scale signified inclination towards positive social impact. The points were calculated and compared to each impact category. The result obtained from the survey was analysed descriptively. It was then found that the local community has the highest level of satisfaction on safety and health aspect (31%) followed by job opportunity (29%), cultural heritage (23%) and local community involvement (17%). Meanwhile, the workers have the highest level of  job satisfaction (38%) in cocoa production followed by occupational health and safety (21%), social benefit (18%), wages and salary (16%) and discrimination (7%). This study was vital to help the cocoa processing industry in its pursuit towards sustainable development to identify stages within the life-cycle of a product or process where the local community and workers are part of the concern.