The wide despread use of children in cocoa production is controversial, not only for the concerns about child labor and exploitation, but also for the repercussions it has on their education and health.

It’s estimated that more than 1.8 million children in West Africa are involved in growing cocoa.

In 2013-2014, an estimated 1.4 million children aged 5 years old to 11 years old worked in agriculture in cocoa-growing areas, approximately 800,000 of them are engaged in hazardous work, including working with sharp tools and agricultural chemicals and carrying heavy loads according to International Cocoa Initiative.

Cocoa trees are treated with pesticides and fungicides. Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year and occurs over a period of several months to the whole year. Pods are harvested at multiple times during the harvest season because they do not all ripen at once. Pod ripening is judged by pod color, and ripe pods are harvested from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree with a curved knife on a long pole. The pods are opened and wet beans are removed. Wet beans are transported to a facility so they can be fermented and dried.

Many of these tasks could be hazardous when performed by children, according to the ILO.

Mixing and applying chemicals can be hazardous due to pesticide contamination, especially because no protective clothing is worn during application.

Clearing vegetation and harvesting pods can be hazardous because these tasks are often done using machetes, which can cause incision. This skill is part of normal development in children 15 to 17 years old, but is a higher risk in younger children.

Many have wounds on their legs where they have cut themselves. Transport of the wet beans can also be hazardous due to long transport distances and heavy loads; hernias and physical injuries can occur.

In 2002, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture investigated the prevalence of child labor in the cocoa industry.They found 284,000 children working in hazardous conditions in West Africa. Of these, 153,000 were children who applied pesticides without protective equipment, others picked pods and opened them to get the beans; 64% of the children were younger than 14 and 40% of the children were girls.[2] Children often began working at 6am, worked 12-hour days and were beaten regularly.

Cocoa farmers who spoke to Adom News at Ayokoa in the Bekwai District of the Ashanti region explained that, it very difficult to get labourers hence the only option is to use their own children. This is the only way we can get money to support them they said.

However, some children who usually absent themselves from school to help their parents in the cocoa farm believes that, that is the only way they can help the family to cross the poverty line.

However, in order to help reduce such practice in Cocoa production, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) in collaboration with Nestle COCOA NECT, have launched a Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) to stop using children in cocoa production instead of going to school.

During the program, school uniform, bags and books were given to the children whilst spraying machines, jacket and other far inputs were given to some selected farmers in the area to boost cocoa production. Some group of farmers were also given some undisclosed amount of money to start different kind of farms to make them financial viable in the off cocoa season.

Speaking at the program, Nestle Cocoa Planning Manager, Fred Kukubor, admonished parents to desist from sending children to farm in school hours.

The National Deputy Coordinator of ICI, Prince Gyamfi, outlines measures they have taken to the use of children of school going age I’m cocoa production.

He said 445 farming households in 62 communities such as Ayokoa, Jakobu, Obonsu, Kwame Ntow and others in the Ashanti region are being targeted with remediation/prevention intervention.

In total, 995 will benefit from the aforementioned process, 80 children between 15 and 17 will also be supported in apprenticeship.

The 119 children remaining will benefit directly from the process through the support which ICI will offer to their parents he explained.