{"id":74141,"date":"2024-08-20T18:06:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T18:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?p=74141"},"modified":"2025-12-06T16:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:00:49","slug":"the-dark-side-of-chocolate-child-labour-in-the-cocoa-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/the-dark-side-of-chocolate-child-labour-in-the-cocoa-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"The dark side of chocolate: child labour in the cocoa industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the world thinks of chocolate, they frequently think of Europe \u2013 of countries like Switzerland<\/a>,  Belgium <\/a>or the Netherlands<\/a> – all of which are well known for the high-quality chocolate they produce. The reality, however, is that 70% of the world\u2019s cocoa beans originate in Ivory Coast and Ghana, and over 2 million West African children work to produce it, most of the time, in hazardous conditions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many children are involved in cocoa production?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate is a product of the cacao bean, which grows primarily in the tropical climates of Western Africa, Asia, and Latin America. <\/sup>The cacao bean is more commonly referred to as cocoa. Western African countries, mostly Ghana and the Ivory Coast<\/a>, supply about 70% of the world\u2019s cocoa (Food Empowerment Project, 2022). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 2.1 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana<\/a> work on cocoa farms, most of whom are likely exposed to the worst forms of child labour (Food Empowerment Project, 2022). Moreover, migrant children from Mali and Burkina Faso also come to Ivory Coast and Ghana to work in cocoa fields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the children labouring on cocoa farms are between the ages of 12 and 16, but reporters have found children as young as 5. <\/sup>In addition, 40% of these children are girls<\/a>, and some end up working on cocoa farms through adulthood (Food Empowerment Project, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though child labour<\/a> is illegal in Ghana and Ivory Coast, it is still the main source of cocoa production. Children are forced to lie about their age. In an investigation by The Washington Post<\/em>, a cocoa labourer named Abou Traore first told a reporter that he was 19 years old, but when the farmer overseeing him wasn\u2019t looking, Abou revealed that he was actually 15 (Food Empowerment Project, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economics of cocoa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The cocoa value chain is complex. Approximately five to six million smallholder farms under five hectares in size produce 90% of the global cocoa supply. Two countries, Ghana and Ivory Coast, account for around 60% of global cocoa production. Farmers sell cocoa beans to aggregators, who gather them in volume from multiple regions to sell to traders<\/a> and exchanges before they are acquired by processors. Ground beans are then sold to manufacturers, brands, and retailers, who face the challenge of tracing the commodity back to its plantation of origin (Krisanda, Rojas, 2024). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Downward pressure on prices and fluctuating demand leaves cocoa farmers vulnerable to an unstable income. <\/sup>During the 1970s, cocoa farmers received 50% of the value of a chocolate bar. Today, however, that value has fallen to just 6%. <\/sup>Meanwhile, throughout 2023, chocolate prices rose by 14%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, an average cocoa farmer in Ghana and Ivory Coast earns 40% of a living income, which is the local minimum income needed to cover a household\u2019s basic needs (Krisanda, Rojas, 2024). Most cocoa farmers earn less than $1 per day, an income below the extreme poverty<\/a> line. <\/sup>As a result, they often resort to the use of child labour to keep their prices competitive (Food Empowerment Project, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other labourers come from the steady stream of child migrants<\/a> who are brought to the Ivory Coast by people other than their parents. At least 16,000 children, and perhaps many more, are forced to work on West African cocoa farms by people other than their parents, according to estimates from a 2018 survey. The child migrants arrive amid a vast wave of people entering from Burkina Faso<\/a> and Mali. Ivory Coast is home to 1.3 million migrants from Burkina Faso and another 360,000 from Mali<\/a>, according to the United Nations. Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast share an agreement on open borders (Whoriskey, Siegel, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThere is no money in Burkina. … We came here to be able to have some money to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n– Karim Bakary, 16 years old, child labourer (Whoriskey, Siegel, 2019)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Child trafficking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The children of Western Africa are surrounded by intense poverty, and many begin working at a young age to help support their families. <\/sup>Some children end up on the cocoa farms because they need work and traffickers<\/a> tell them that the job pays well (Food Empowerment Project, 2022). Traffickers typically offer the children, who could be as young as 10, money or more specific incentives, such as bicycles, to take the bus to Ivory Coast (Whoriskey, Siegel, 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other children are sold to traffickers or farm owners by their relatives, who are unaware of the dangerous work environment and the lack of any provisions for an education (Food Empowerment Project, 2022). Often, traffickers abduct young children from small villages<\/a> in neighbouring African countries, such as Burkina Faso and Mali, two of the poorest countries in the world. Traffickers will then sell children to cocoa farmers (Food Empowerment Project, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they have been taken to the cocoa farms, the children may not see their families for years, if ever. If a child who has been trafficked wants to go home, they will likely not be allowed because the trafficker has sold them to work on the cocoa farms for a certain number of years. Journalists who went undercover as cocoa farmers documented traffickers in Ghana selling children to them for $34 a child (Food Empowerment Project, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risks related to the working conditions in the cocoa fields<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Child labour<\/a> is defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as \u201cwork that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development\u201d (ILO, n.d.). Not all work done by children is classified as child labour. For instance, children carrying out light, non-hazardous tasks on the family farm for a limited period, under adult supervision, and without compromising their schooling, is considered acceptable child work (Cocoa Initiative, n.d.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of work is often necessary for the welfare of many families and it also contributes to children\u2019s development, providing them with skills and experience that help them prepare for adult life. However, when activities are hazardous, it is considered child labour and is not allowed (Cocoa Initiative, n.d.). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children working in cocoa production may face different risks (Food Empowerment Project, 2022): <\/p>\n\n\n\n