i looks at a programme that actually seems to be having an effect. It uses a network of smart phones to identify child laborers on thousands of remote farms in garna and the ivory coast. The main challenge is that farmers employ children not because they want to but because they simply cannot afford to hire adult workers. Either governments and companies need to subsidize these farmers, or the supermarket price of chocolate needs to go up.
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)