Ivory Coast farmers link cocoa prices, child labor

By Amda Dadson
The Associated Press
May 2001

Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Cocoa farmers must be paid more if they are to eliminate child exploitation, Ivory Coast’s prime minister said Friday even as chocolate producers gathered to deal with the issue of child slavery.

Prime Minister Affi N’Guessan said record-low prices for cocoa have contributed to farmers’ reliance on child workers from impoverished neighboring countries, although he denied slavery was a problem in his country, the world’s largest cocoa producer.

The words came as officials from the world chocolate industry and the British Foreign Office met with Ivory Coast’s Cabinet ministers in London to discuss reports of child slavery on African cocoa plantations.

Ivorian farmers need $1.20 to $1.80 a pound for their cocoa – almost 10 times what they currently get, N’Guessan said. "That is a realistic estimate of what they need to live."

Chocolate industry officials, however, said a big increase in prices was unlikely, given recent increases in cocoa production and high stock levels.

"Obviously the price of cocoa is based on the economic fundamentals of supply and demand," said John Newman, chairman of the British chocolate organization the Biscuit, Cake Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance.

Reports of child slavery on Ivory coast’s cocoa farms last month prompted calls in Britain and elsewhere for cocoa buyers to ensure their products have not been made with exploitative child labor.

Attention was drawn to issue in April by a frantic search for a ship thought to be transporting child slaves. The ship eventually docked in Benin with more than 30 unaccompanied children, most of whom officials thought were victims of traffickers, though they stopped short of calling them slaves.

During the meeting in London, chocolate makers and government representatives from Ivory Coast and Ghana agreed with the British government to establish a task force to address the issue.