Child labor in African cocoa production has increased despite initiatives by the major chocolate processing companies, according to a new report.
The report, from the U.S. Labor Department and the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago, was based on a survey of agricultural regions of Ivory Coast and Ghana. Those two West African nations together produce more than half the world’s cocoa supply.
The report states that, from 2013 to 2019, child labor increased by 13 percentage points and hazardous child labor by 14 points. This coincided with an increase in cocoa production of 62%. According to the report, in agricultural households in cocoa growing areas, 38% of children in Ivory Coast and 55% of children in Ghana worked in cocoa production. Most of the increase in child labor was in areas of low to medium production.
The industry, local governments and others periodically make pledges to reduce child labor in cocoa growing, but little comes of them. Reduction goals for child labor by some of the world’s biggest chocolate processors were missed in 2005, 2008 and 2010.
