How many children work on West African cocoa farms, and why?

Ivory Coast and Ghana together produce nearly 60 percent of the world's cocoa, and child labour on their cocoa farms is a well-documented problem. During the 2018/19 growing season, research commissioned by the US Department of Labor and carried out by NORC at the University of Chicago found 1.48 million children in hazardous work on cocoa farms, including working with sharp tools and agricultural chemicals and carrying heavy loads. That was 43 percent of all children living in agricultural households in cocoa-growing areas.

Two things need care. First, not all work by children counts as child labour. Work that is not detrimental to a child's health, development or schooling is considered beneficial, and is not child labour. Most children who work on cocoa farms do so within their own family, though that does not mean they avoid hazards, and illegal and exploitative practices also exist. Studies suggest that roughly 1 percent of children in child labour in the sector could be in, or at risk of, forced labour. Second, the numbers are hard to compare over time, because the NORC study said that methodological differences between surveys, and errors in the 2013/4 survey, made it challenging to document changes.

Why does it happen? Poverty is one of the reasons. The 2015 Cocoa Barometer, a report by a group of nonprofits, reported that the average farmer in Ghana made 84 cents a day in 2013-14, and in Ivory Coast 50 cents. Efforts to reduce child labour by 70 percent have been slowed by persistent poverty, absence of schools, expansion of cocoa farmland and increased demand.

Progress is uneven. The 2018 Cocoa Barometer said no company or government was anywhere near the sector-wide goal. Yet a three-year Nestlé pilot with 26,000 farmers, mostly in Ivory Coast, observed a 51 percent decrease in children doing hazardous jobs.