Abstract

Cocoa cultivation is vital to the livelihood of thousands of farm families and their dependents in Ghana. The Government of Ghana has been concerned about recent media reports of the use of child labour in cocoa production in Ghana. It consequently set up the national programme for the elimination of worst forms of child labour in cocoa (NPECLC) at the ministry of manpower youth and employment.  This paper presents part of the outcome of a national study on the incidence of child labour in Ghana under the auspices of the NPECLC. Using questionnaires, the study interviewed 3,449 children from 1,749 cocoa-farming households in 15 districts in Ghana’s six cocoa farming regions. It was found that children do participate in cocoa activities depending on their age and the nature of the activity. Eighty-eight and a half percent of the children are enrolled in schools with an attendance rate of 92.6% indicating that though the children help on the farms, they do so mainly on weekends and during school holidays. However, some children were found engaged in hazardous work.  It is concluded that there was no evidence to support the claim that children are bound on cocoa farms to the detriment of their education.

Key words: Cocoa, child labour, livelihood.