Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry

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Nesley is the world's biggest food company, and about two thirds of the cocoa it buys originates in garna and ivory coast. Darrell hye, who oversees nesley's cocoa plan, says the regent's poverty and size make it a hard problem to solve. The children cut down cocoa pods, carried them home in sacks and then used machettes to split them open. In the process, the children sometimes cut themselves.

Child labor has been a longstanding scourge in the $100-billion cocoa industry for more than two decades. Despite efforts by U.S. Congressmen, African governments, the world’s biggest chocolate companies and various non-profit groups, it has been a tough nut to crack. In this episode, we look at program that actually seems to be having an effect. It uses a network of smartphones to identify child laborers on thousands of remote farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It then tries to persuade farmers to stop using their children on farms and to send them to school instead. You will hear from cocoa farmers in Ghana, from Nestle, maker of KitKat, and a Swiss non-profit group called the International Cocoa Initiative, or ICI, which co-founded the program. (Photo: AP)