Post by account_disabled on Mar 11, 2024 3:43:01 GMT -5
Chocolate is one of everyone's favorite foods, it comes from the harvest and production of cocoa, but do you know what the production chain is like so that the chocolate you eat reaches your hands?
It is well known that many industries take advantage of child labor to pay a minimum share and produce large quantities of their product.
In the chocolate industry this is not new. In France Mobile Number List several places where cocoa is harvested, hundreds of children are working; They live in a marginal condition and poverty.
This situation wants to be eliminated by several activists, however, if labor is eliminated, the cost of chocolate has to increase.
How much do you have to pay to eliminate child labor?
According to two economists from the United States, it is estimated that for cheaper and more manageable cocoa to continue giving the same benefits to its producers without the need to employ children, the price would have to increase by 2.8%.
Economists Jeff Luckstead and Lawton L. Nalley have designed an economic model to calculate the impact on the bill of purchasing this fairer trade.
According to Luckstead, a farm household model was developed, in which income is generated by the cultivation of cocoa. "To do this, the household can use the time of adults, children or hired workers."
The 2.8% refers to the increase that would result after the elimination of the "most extreme" forms of child labor, that is, those that include tasks that involve danger. By eliminating "normal", which includes 14 to 42 hours of weekly work, it would rise to 12%, while completely eliminating minors from the cocoa production chain would raise it to 47%.
Completely eliminating minors from the cocoa production chain would increase it by 47%
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The economists developed their model in the context of Ghana, the second largest cocoa producing country (20% of the global total), and which employs two million people.
According to the researcher, "the model used could be adapted to other situations, however, modifications would have to be made."
exploited children
In Ghana it is estimated that there are around 200 thousand children working in this sector in the harshest conditions. The entire West African region accounts for 70% of global cocoa production, a sector that employs 2.2 million children, according to the 2018 Cacaobarometer, a report carried out by 15 European NGOs. Number one is occupied by Ivory Coast, a country that provides 40% of this product.
According to Muhammad Rafiq Khan of UNICEF's Ghana office, “discussions on the price of cocoa and other commodities are complex, but they need to be had. Providing a fair price to the farmer can be a key starting point in addressing poverty and child labor. However, this is not the only problem to deal with. “Access to quality services such as education, health and birth registration is equally important.”
To reduce exploitation figures in Ghana, the government launched a plan in 2017 that focused on addressing poverty situations that "lead families to depend on the income that children can provide, and change social perceptions that value child labor as normal, acceptable or even necessary.
"They are cheap, obedient and very profitable labor, for many families, the only alternative to survive," agrees David del Campo, director of International Cooperation at Save the Children. 30% of Ghanaian children drop out of primary school, 15% have never set foot in school, according to UNESCO data.
For one of the authors of the study, “it is extremely difficult to enforce the child labor law without pushing families into poverty. That is why we created this model, because cocoa households would be more willing to reduce these practices if it did not place a financial burden on them. Additionally, consumers want ethically sourced products, including cocoa.”
And the consumers?
It is still not known whether consumers are willing to pay a higher price to obtain the same chocolate, however, it is important that chocolate companies take responsibility and assume it in favor of the entire production chain since it is well known that the Child labor is not part of the companies that stand out as responsible.
«The emphasis must be placed on the producers who buy that cocoa to manufacture their products and who sometimes rely on abusive commercial relationships. "They are the ones who demand that more be produced at low cost."
The co-author of the study concludes that "if successful in reducing or eliminating the worst child employment practices, the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board could label its product as child labor free , which would differentiate its cocoa from other countries and improve its commercialization.
It is well known that many industries take advantage of child labor to pay a minimum share and produce large quantities of their product.
In the chocolate industry this is not new. In France Mobile Number List several places where cocoa is harvested, hundreds of children are working; They live in a marginal condition and poverty.
This situation wants to be eliminated by several activists, however, if labor is eliminated, the cost of chocolate has to increase.
How much do you have to pay to eliminate child labor?
According to two economists from the United States, it is estimated that for cheaper and more manageable cocoa to continue giving the same benefits to its producers without the need to employ children, the price would have to increase by 2.8%.
Economists Jeff Luckstead and Lawton L. Nalley have designed an economic model to calculate the impact on the bill of purchasing this fairer trade.
According to Luckstead, a farm household model was developed, in which income is generated by the cultivation of cocoa. "To do this, the household can use the time of adults, children or hired workers."
The 2.8% refers to the increase that would result after the elimination of the "most extreme" forms of child labor, that is, those that include tasks that involve danger. By eliminating "normal", which includes 14 to 42 hours of weekly work, it would rise to 12%, while completely eliminating minors from the cocoa production chain would raise it to 47%.
Completely eliminating minors from the cocoa production chain would increase it by 47%
Tweet this phrase.
The economists developed their model in the context of Ghana, the second largest cocoa producing country (20% of the global total), and which employs two million people.
According to the researcher, "the model used could be adapted to other situations, however, modifications would have to be made."
exploited children
In Ghana it is estimated that there are around 200 thousand children working in this sector in the harshest conditions. The entire West African region accounts for 70% of global cocoa production, a sector that employs 2.2 million children, according to the 2018 Cacaobarometer, a report carried out by 15 European NGOs. Number one is occupied by Ivory Coast, a country that provides 40% of this product.
According to Muhammad Rafiq Khan of UNICEF's Ghana office, “discussions on the price of cocoa and other commodities are complex, but they need to be had. Providing a fair price to the farmer can be a key starting point in addressing poverty and child labor. However, this is not the only problem to deal with. “Access to quality services such as education, health and birth registration is equally important.”
To reduce exploitation figures in Ghana, the government launched a plan in 2017 that focused on addressing poverty situations that "lead families to depend on the income that children can provide, and change social perceptions that value child labor as normal, acceptable or even necessary.
"They are cheap, obedient and very profitable labor, for many families, the only alternative to survive," agrees David del Campo, director of International Cooperation at Save the Children. 30% of Ghanaian children drop out of primary school, 15% have never set foot in school, according to UNESCO data.
For one of the authors of the study, “it is extremely difficult to enforce the child labor law without pushing families into poverty. That is why we created this model, because cocoa households would be more willing to reduce these practices if it did not place a financial burden on them. Additionally, consumers want ethically sourced products, including cocoa.”
And the consumers?
It is still not known whether consumers are willing to pay a higher price to obtain the same chocolate, however, it is important that chocolate companies take responsibility and assume it in favor of the entire production chain since it is well known that the Child labor is not part of the companies that stand out as responsible.
«The emphasis must be placed on the producers who buy that cocoa to manufacture their products and who sometimes rely on abusive commercial relationships. "They are the ones who demand that more be produced at low cost."
The co-author of the study concludes that "if successful in reducing or eliminating the worst child employment practices, the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board could label its product as child labor free , which would differentiate its cocoa from other countries and improve its commercialization.