Children in cocoa production

The widespread use of children in cocoa production is controversial not only because of the usual concerns about child labor and exploitation, but also because up to 12,000 of the 200,000 children working in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer of cocoa,^[1] may be victims of human trafficking or slavery.^[2] Most attention on this subject has focused on West Africa, which collectively supplies 69% of the world's cocoa,^[3] and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in particular, which supplies 35% of the world's cocoa.^[3] Thirty percent of children under age 15 in sub-Saharan Africa are child laborers, mostly in agricultural activities including cocoa farming.^[4] The major chocolate producers such as Nestle buy cocoa at commodities exchanges where Ivorian cocoa is mixed with other cocoa.^[5]

Contents 1 Production and consumption statistics 2 Cocoa harvest 3 Studies and reports 4 Certification process 4.1 Harkin-Engel Protocol 5 Position statements and legislation 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

Production and consumption statistics

There were 3.54 million tonnes of cocoa beans produced in the 2008–2009 growing year^[3] (which runs October through September^[6]). Of this total, African nations produced 2.45 million tonnes (69%), Asia and Oceania produced 0.61 million tonnes (17%) and the Americas produced 0.48 million tonnes (14%).^[3] Two African nations, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, produce more than half of the world's cocoa, with 1.23 and 0.73 million tonnes respectively (35% and 21%, respectively).^[3]

There are different metrics used for chocolate consumption. The Netherlands has the highest monetary amount of cocoa bean imports (US$2.1 billion); it is also one of the main ports into Europe.^[3] The United States has highest amount of cocoa powder imports ($220 million); the US has a large amount of cocoa complementary products.^[3] The United Kingdom has the highest amount of retail chocolate ($1.3 billion) and is one of the biggest chocolate consumption per capita markets.^[3]

Cocoa harvest

Cocoa trees grow in hot, rainy tropical areas within 20º of latitude from the equator.^[3] In most cases, vegetative growth is cleared from underneath the cocoa canopy twice a year. Sometimes herbicides are applied to this growth.^[7] Pesticides are often applied to the trees to combat capsid bugs and fungacides to fight black pod disease.^[7]

Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year. Usually it occurs over several months and in many countries cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year.^[8] Cocoa trees produce pods that do not all ripen at the same time, so harvesting needs to be done periodically through the year.^[8] Harvesting occurs between 3–4 times to weekly during the harvest season.^[8] Since they pods do not all ripen at once, the person harvesting the pod must distinguish which pods are ready to be harvested, and the color of the pods indicates which are ripe and nearly ripe.^[7] These pods are removed from the tree using a knife or machete,^[8] and it is estimated one person can harvest 650 pods per day.^[7][9] The pods are opened to expose the beans.^[7][8] A typical pod contains 20 to 50 beans^[3] and about 400 dried beans are required to make one pound (200 per kilogram) of chocolate.^[3] Cocoa pods weigh an average of 400 grams (0.88 lb) and each one yields 35 to 40 grams (0.077 to 0.088 lb) dried beans (this yield is 40–44% of the total weight in the pod).^[7] It is estimated one person can separate the beans from 2000 pods per day.^[7][9] The wet beans are transported then to a facility so they can be fermented and dried.^[7] They are fermented for four to seven days and must be mixed every two days.^[7][9] They are dried for five to fourteen days, depending on the climate conditions.^[7][9]

Many of these tasks could be hazardous when performed by children. Mixing and applying chemicals can be hazardous due to pesticide contamination,^[7][10] especially because no protective clothing is worn during application.^[9] Clearing vegetation and harvesting pods can be hazardous because these tasks are often done using machetes, which can cause lacerations.^[7] This skill is part of normal development in children 15 to 17 years old, but is a higher risk in younger children.^[9] Many have wounds on their legs where they have cut themselves.^[11] Transport of the wet beans can also be hazardous due to long transport distances and heavy loads; hernias and physical injuries can occur.^[9][10] Mali's Save the Children Fund director described "young children carrying 6 kilograms (13 lb) of cocoa sacks so heavy that they have wounds all over their shoulders."^[12]

Studies and reports

In 2000, the BBC produced a documentary that described child slavery on commercial cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.^[2][13] Malian migrant workers work have long worked on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.^[14] but in 2000 cocoa prices had dropped to a 10-year low and some farmers stopped paying their employees.^[14] The Malian counsel had to rescue some boys who had not been paid for five years and who were beaten if they tried to run away.^[14] Malian officials believed that 15,000 children, some as young as 11 years old, were working working in the Ivory Coast in 2001.^[12] These children were often from poor families or the slums and were sold for "just a few dollars" to work in other countries.^[12] Parents were told the children would find work and send money home, but once the children left home, they often worked in conditions resembling slavery.^[2] In 2002, the Ivory Coast had 12,000 children with no relatives nearby, which suggested they were trafficked.^[2]

The Ivory Coast government blamed multinational chocolate companies for cocoa keeping prices low and farmers in poverty; it claimed the low prices forced some farmers to use slave labor.^[1] The Ivorian prime minister, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, said price the price would need to need to increase 10 times to ensure a good quality of life for the farmers and their families.^[1]

In 2001, due to pressure applied by the US Congress and potential US and UK boycotts,^[2] the chocolate manufacturers promised to start eliminating forced child labor.^[11]

Surveys were conducted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture on the prevalence of child labor in the cocoa industry, and the results were published in 2002.^[2] They found 284,000 children working in hazardous conditions in West Africa.^[2] The survey found 153,000 children 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 6 am, worked 12-hour days and were beaten regularly.^[2]

Child laborers are less likely to attend school. They are kept out of school because families need their help on the farms.^[11] In the Ivory Coast, 34% of children on cocoa farms attended school compared to 64% of children who did not work on farms.^[2] Only only 33% of children from immigrant cocoa workers attended school, while 71% of the local children attended school.^[2]

• A 1998 report from the Ivory Coast office of UNICEF concluded that some Ivory Coast farmers use enslaved children, many of them from Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.^[15]
• The 2001 report "A Taste of Slavery: How Your Chocolate May be Tainted" won a George Polk Award. It claimed that traffickers promise paid work, housing, and education to children who are forced to labour and undergo severe abuse, that some children are held forcibly on farms and work up to 100 hours per week, and that attempted escapees are beaten. It quoted a former slave: "The beatings were a part of my life" and "when you didn't hurry, you were beaten."^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]}
• Some children from Sikasso and Mali, were believed sold as slaves;^[12] 15,000 children from Mali, some under age 11, were producing cocoa in the Côte d'Ivoire.^[12] Mali's Save the Children Fund director described "young children carrying 6 kg of cocoa sacks so heavy that they have wounds all over their shoulders."^[12]
• Many Ivory Coast cocoa plantations use forced labor.^[21] A ship was found near West Africa allegedly carrying child slaves.^[21]
• The Chocolate Manufacturers Association acknowledged that slaves harvested some cocoa.^[20]
• S. Chanthavong reported in 2002 that children in neighboring countries are often found traveling or begging and lured to the Ivory Coast, where they are sold.^[22]
• A 2005 report from the International Labor Organization noted that of the 200,000 children working on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, 12,000 are not working with or in the vicinity of their relatives, suggesting possible trafficking in a maximum of 6% of cases of child labor.^[2]
• A 2006 study showed many children working on small farms in the Ivory Coast, often on family farms. Over 11,000 people working on small Ivorian cocoa farms were surveyed.
• Another book was published: Carol Off, Bitter Chocolate:Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet. Random House Canada (2006), 336 pages, hardcover. ISBN 978-0-679-31319-9 (0-679-31319-2)
• UNICEF's Representative in Côte d'Ivoire, stated in 2007 that:

  Likewise, children from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali are brought to Côte d’Ivoire to work in its robust cocoa farming industry, among other outlets for child labour. Their rights are not respected and they are exposed to wide-ranging exploitation and abuse.^[23]

• The International Labor Organization,^[24] the BBC^[11] and Stop the Traffik^[25] released reports on the subject.
• A report funded by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that "Industry and the Governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana have taken steps to investigate the problem and are implementing projects that address issues identified in the Protocol."^[26]

• Fortune magazine reported in 2008 that "little progress has been made" in a report featuring responses from Cargill and Hershey's.

In June 2009, the OECD released a position paper on child labor on West African Cocoa Farms, and launched a website on its Regional Cocoa Initiative.

Certification process

Efforts are under way to establish an industry-wide voluntary certification process for cocoa produced without the use of child labor.^[26] However, these efforts are not yet complete, and there are currently only a few small independent firms claiming to produce chocolate without the use of child labor or human trafficking.

Harkin-Engel Protocol

The Harkin-Engel Protocol of 2001 (see Appendix 1 of^[26] ) was a commitment by the industry groups World Cocoa Foundation and Chocolate Manufacturers Association (now known as the Chocolate Council of the National Confectioners Association) to develop and implement voluntary standards to certify cocoa produced without the "worst forms of child labor," (defined according to the International Labor Organization's Convention 182) by the year 2005. This deadline was not met. In 2004, a Verification Working Group was funded by industry; however, funding was discontinued in 2006.^[26]

Position statements and legislation

In September 2005, Dutch member of parliament Femke Halsema filed a motion to abolish European imports of slave-processed cacao.^[27] Statements have been issued by Anti-Slavery International,^[28] the Anti-Slavery Society,^[29] Fred E. Foldvary, the Organic Consumers Association ^[30] and StoptheTraffick UK.^[31]

See also

• Big Chocolate
• Child labour
• Cocoa Protocol
• International Labor Rights Forum
• Nestlé
• The Hershey Company

References

Further reading

• Lowell J. Satre, Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics & the Ethics of Business, Ohio University Press (2005), 308 pages, hardcover ISBN 0-8214-1625-1, trade paperback ISBN 0-8214-1626-X

External links

• First annual report of Tulane University Payson Center project on Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
• Fourth Annual Report of Tulane University Payson Center
• Sources of Fair Trade chocolate by Green America

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