There Are No Child Labourers in Cocoa Farms - Cocobod

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Mr. Isaac Osei has denied the allegation that Ghana is using child labour in cocoa farms.

He said the process in which children work on subsistence farms of their parents cannot be classified as child labour because they are not in contravention of the Harkin Engel Protocol signed in 2001.

"The Harkin Engel Protocol says that where children are denied normal development, then we have an issue".

He explained that in Ghana, requirement for labour on farms are very limited because they are of small holdings and does not affect their academic pursuits.

"If it had been the plantation system as it is else where, then we would have a problem.

He said as part of the socialization of children who live in cocoa producing areas children are trained to takeover from their parents and had to be on the farms but not at the expense of their education or normal life. "Farms are expected to be passed on to another generation and it is therefore the responsibility of the present day farmers to make their children understand what goes on in a cocoa farm," he said.

However, in order to eradicate the worse form of child labour in Ghana, Mr. Osei said Cocoa Board has established a child labour desk to monitor the supply chain and where an incidence of child labour is found, laws related to them are applied.

He said Ghanaian laws state that children should not be denied of normal development and his outfit would go the length of making the law succeed.

He brought in how the government has made school compulsory with the introduction of the capitation grant and the school feeding programme.

"We see it as a social cultural issue and not we bringing in child labour into the cocoa industry," he said.

There have been other national programmes to eradicate the worse form of child labour in Ghana by the Ministry of Manpower and Employment.

He recommended the model for the elimination of the worse form of child labour in the cocoa areas in all sectors where the problem exists especially in the fishing and quarrying industries.

The CEO made these remarks when he briefed the media on the up coming conferences in September and October this year.

The first is the Cocoa Summit on 5th September where16 African cocoa producing countries have been invited including Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Congo, DR Congo among others are attending.

The agenda includes strengthening cooperation among African cocoa producing countries, re-enforcing international cooperation in the cocoa sector, promoting the consumption of cocoa products, value addition and efficient use of cocoa towards a sustainable cocoa economy as well as elimination of child labour from the cocoa industry.

The Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPAL) Cocoa Day which celebrates cocoa falls on Monday October 1, this and would be held at Sefwi Wiawso in the Western Region.

The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO)'s "Round Table on a Sustainable World Cocoa Economy" will also be held in Accra, hosted by the Ghana Cocoa Board who, in conjunction with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, is sponsoring the event.

The event will take place from 3 to 6 October 2007 in Accra and will bring together all stakeholders in the world cocoa economy - cocoa farmers, managers of co-operatives, exporters, traders, processors and manufacturers, government officials, non-governmental and other private organizations active in the cocoa and chocolate supply chains.

The objective is to build a consensus on defining the concept, model, criteria, indicators and the ways to achieve a sustainable world cocoa economy through a participatory and comprehensive approach.

The 70th General Assembly and Ministerial meeting of the Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPAL) would come off at the Accra International Conference. It will review the cocoa economy and plan ahead.

The Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPAL) is an intergovernmental organization instituted in January 1962 by representatives of the governments of five cocoa producing countries in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

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