RESIDENTS in West Yorkshire will take part in a 50-mile circular walk around the Bradford District Fair Trade Way this weekend to support children in places where 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is grown.

Walkers will leave Bradford Cathedral at 10am on Saturday and head to Baildon, via Bingley.

A further four walks, on July 3, 8, 9 and 10, will take in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Ilkley, Keighley, Haworth - the world’s first Fairtrade Village - and Thornton.

Walkers will be welcomed at St James’ Church, Thornton by fair trade campaigners and members of the Ghana Union Bradford on 9 July for a Ghanaian-themed tea party

The Chocolate Has a Name project will also bring chocolate-making workshops to schools in the cocoa-growing areas of Ghana.

The project is led by Halifax-based social enterprise Africaniwa, founded by Adelle A’asante, who is a granddaughter of cocoa farmers.

Chair of the UK’s Fairtrade National Campaigner Committee, Joanna Pollard, said: “We’re walking to draw attention to the shocking fact that most of the farmers who grow cocoa can never afford to buy chocolate for themselves or their children.

“Cocoa farmers in West Africa typically earn just 74p a day.”

Organiser and Chair of Bradford Fairtrade Zone, Karen Palframan, added: “Adelle A’asante is a captivating storyteller and will remind us that those whose heritage and livelihood is cocoa must be part of the story of chocolate.”