International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) has empowered cocoa growing communities in the New Juaben municipality against worst forms of child labour in the production of cocoa.

The new Juaben municipality is one of the major cocoa growing areas in Ghana and in communities such as Asikasu, Mpaem, Basare-Nkwanta, Worampong, Oyoko, Jumapo and Adomponsu, cocoa production is the main economic activity.

The worst forms of child labour on cocoa farms according to international conventions are children being used to spray chemicals on cocoa farms, burning bushes, harvesting cocoa pods with equipment, breaking cocoa pods with cutlasses and carrying heavy loads of cocoa from farms.

Through the formation of the Community Child Protection Committees (CCPC) by ICI, the use of children on cocoa farms, have been reduced drastically, leading to enrolment of children in schools.

In order to achieve the maximum results on the mandate of the CCPCs in educating, sensitizing and raising awareness on the dire consequences of using children on cocoa farms, the communities in partnership with the security agencies and traditional councils have formed a task force to sanction cocoa farmers who go contrary to that.

This came to light, when a team of journalists met the various CCPCs to know what they were doing and the impact on the communities, during a training workshop organized by the ICI in Koforidua to build capacities of the selected media on child labour issues and reporting.

Again for maximum achievement, the ICI has also instituted ‘Noboa’ groups in the form of providing farm equipment and labour needs to ensure that no cocoa farmer uses children on the cocoa farms.

Mr Thomas Agyei, the secretary of the CCPC at Basare-Nkwanta, a cocoa growing community, recalled that, until the ICI intervention, they used their children to work on the cocoa farms and saw nothing wrong with it because they deemed it as a way of training their children, who would inherit them.

He said most cocoa farmers are illiterates because they were working on cocoa farms, but with the ICI intervention, they have realised the need to send their wards to school without overburdening them with hazardous work on the farms.

Mr Ernest Gyamfi, Vice president of ICI Ghana, said they are working with the district assemblies in the cocoa growing areas to incorporate the CCPC activities into their development plans to ensure sustainability and improvement in cocoa productivity.

“In order to eliminate child labour on cocoa farms, ICI instituted a programme that provides alternative livelihood activities such as crop seedlings, agric related businesses and financial support to cocoa farmers do the right thing.”

Mr Gyamfi said, to an extent, what was known to the international community as child labour was a socialization of children by parents in cocoa farming, however, the ICI with the CCPCs was making sure that the worst forms of child labour was eliminated from cocoa production in Ghana.