Agriculture
British-owned Cadbury benefiting from use of under-age children on cocoa farms
Government of Ghana yet to respond to forced child labour allegations
Children on cocoa farms earn as a little as £2 per day – Report
British confectionery company, Cadbury is facing huge allegations of profiting from child labour activities across cocoa farms in Ghana.
According to a report by UK-based The Times, some farmers who supply Cadbury with cocoa have been using children, as young as 10 years old, who work long hours on their farms.
The illegal activity was discovered after a current affairs investigative programme, Channel 4 Dispatches concluded that some children in Ghana, who ought to have been in school, were being forced to work on these cocoa farms with machetes and knives.
The investigation further discovered that the farms belong to some Ghanaians farmers who are beneficiaries of Cadbury’s Cocoa Life programme, which is partly aimed at eradicating child labour from its supply chain.
The Times UK reports that the investigative team posed as climate change researchers who were informed that the children were being forced to quit school and leave their families in order to work on these cocoa farms.
These children, according to the investigation, were said to have been earning as low as £2 per day which is less than GH¢20 under Cadbury’s Cocoa Life programme.
Meanwhile, The Government of Ghana and Cadbury is yet to officially respond to these allegations as at the time of filing this report.
Illegal child labour is being used to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury – Britain’s favourite chocolate brand.#Dispatches has been undercover in Ghana where children as young as 10 have been working gruelling hours to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury. pic.twitter.com/nS90jyBr8w
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) April 4, 2022
“Did it hurt?”
Young children bear scars from the dangerous work they do using sharp knives and machetes on coca farms linked to Cadbury. Other children are seen struggling with heavy loads, long hours and dangerous tools.
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) April 4, 2022
“I suffer a lot when I am farming.”
Some of the children working here have been sent by their families to live and work on the farms, stopping them from going to school. pic.twitter.com/QvSNl23NRq
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) April 4, 2022
