Main Problem
The main problem in the cocoa industry is the slavery that is used to harvest the product. Using slavery to harvest this product creates many negative sides to the product.
Slavery in Cocoa
In the past few years it has been revealed that some areas in West Africa that supply the world with 75% of cocoa used worldwide have been using child slavery and human trafficking to harvest their cocoa. This issue has been difficult for journalists and the press to access the farms where the workers harvest and also it has been hard to give this information to the public. These farms in West Africa supply the world’s biggest chocolate companies like, Hershey’s, Mars and Nestle with their cocoa. Since the chocolate industry has been growing, companies have been requesting cheaper cocoa, resulting in cocoa farmers to barely make their living selling the cocoa beans. This is why they often used child labour to keep their prices low.
The children that work in then cocoa farms are often very poor so they start working at a young age to support their families. Some children end up in cocoa farms because they need the job but some are sold by their own relatives to farm owners and traffickers. Some traffickers often abduct young boys from villages and force them to work in cocoa farms. When a child is taken to a cocoa farm it may be years before they ever see their families again. When relatives sell the children to the cocoa farms they often don’t realize the children will not receive an education and will be working in dangerous environments. Most of the children are between the ages of 12-14 but even children as young as 7 are working in these farms.
Children in this industry are in a dangerous work situation because they have to climb the trees to get the cocoa pods and cut them off with a hazardous Machete. They will have to drag bags full of cocoa beans through the forest that are often even bigger than them. Children are also exposed to agricultural pesticides and chemicals in the Western African farms. These tropical regions have large insect populations and the pods are sprayed with industrial agricultural chemicals. The children that used these chemicals aren’t given any protective gear.
The children that work in then cocoa farms are often very poor so they start working at a young age to support their families. Some children end up in cocoa farms because they need the job but some are sold by their own relatives to farm owners and traffickers. Some traffickers often abduct young boys from villages and force them to work in cocoa farms. When a child is taken to a cocoa farm it may be years before they ever see their families again. When relatives sell the children to the cocoa farms they often don’t realize the children will not receive an education and will be working in dangerous environments. Most of the children are between the ages of 12-14 but even children as young as 7 are working in these farms.
Children in this industry are in a dangerous work situation because they have to climb the trees to get the cocoa pods and cut them off with a hazardous Machete. They will have to drag bags full of cocoa beans through the forest that are often even bigger than them. Children are also exposed to agricultural pesticides and chemicals in the Western African farms. These tropical regions have large insect populations and the pods are sprayed with industrial agricultural chemicals. The children that used these chemicals aren’t given any protective gear.