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Global Chocolate, Cocoa Industry, Partners Meet in Ghana to Launch Region-Wide Program to Promote Responsible Cocoa Labour Practices

"Pilot Programs" to Strengthen Cocoa Farming Communities, Address Labour Issues: Will Reach Tens of Thousands of Farming Families

ACCRA, GHANA (November 21, 2002) - The global chocolate and cocoa industry is launching a region-wide action program to promote responsible labour and sustainable farming practices in West African cocoa growing, in partnership with African governments, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of Labor, leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local farmer organizations.

The launch of the action program follows an international meeting in Accra, Ghana, attended by more than 150 stakeholders engaged in improving the well being of cocoa farming families and workers throughout West Africa. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Government of Ghana, USAID and the global chocolate/cocoa industry sponsored the conference.

The region-wide program is the next step in more than 12 months' work by a broad international alliance of industry, governments, leading experts on labour and agricultural issues, activists, consumer coalitions and other stakeholders. In late 2001, the industry signed an International Protocol to ensure that cocoa is grown without abusive child or forced labour.

The initiative includes a series of "pilot programs" that will implement and assess different approaches to ensuring that children and adults are not subjected to abusive labour conditions in the growing of cocoa in the Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the growing of cashews in Guinea.

"This action program will touch the lives of tens of thousands of cocoa farming families, while creating permanent, positive change in their communities," said John Rowsome, president of the Confectionery Manufacturers Association of Canada (CMAC) and a participant in the Ghana conference. "Working closely with our partners, we are focusing our resources on where they will do the greatest good - on the ground, at the individual farm level."

To promote responsible cocoa farming, the pilot programs will directly address labour practices on cocoa farms while seeking to improve the overall well being of the cocoa farming community. While varied and holistic in approach, the pilot programs are broadly grouped into two categories:

Responsible Labour Practices/Child Labour Intervention:
These pilot programs - designed and managed by the ILO - will directly promote responsible labour practices and address instances of abusive child or forced labour through a variety of approaches, including:

• Social protection - Target farming families for direct assistance; at-risk youth under 18 to be redirected from inappropriate work and retrained.
• Capacity building - Train agricultural authorities to detect and handle potentially problematic child labour issues.
• Child labour monitoring - Train inspection organizations, perform site visits.
• Knowledge dissemination - Compile best practices on responsible labour practices; disseminate through farming communities across the region.
• Awareness raising - Promote internationally accepted labour practices among farmers.

Strengthening Farming Communities
These pilot programs will address a critical underlying issue - the health and vibrancy of the local cocoa farming community - as well as the need for direct farmer assistance and support.

The programs also seek to raise the livelihood of rural cocoa farming families and workers, thereby improving the opportunities for nutrition, health care and education.

The programs are being managed through the national networks of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP), a strategic development alliance in West Africa between farmers, the global chocolate/cocoa industry, governments, research institutes and the public sector.

Specific pilot program elements include:

• Creating/strengthening local community, farmer organizations - Establish farmer groups; provide training in finance and marketing; improve access to credit.
• Market information systems - Test different systems to help farmers grow cocoa more efficiently, time their sales to take advantage of market price fluctuations, gain a greater share of the global price paid for cocoa.
• Technology dissemination - Promote diversified agriculture; combat diseases and other problems that hurt farm productivity; train farmers in safe, sustainable pest management.
• Radio Education - Use of radio to educate farmers on safe farming techniques; offer at-home education to children; promote responsible labour practices.

"Creating and consolidating farmer groups and providing farmers with tools and information systems can play a powerful role in uplifting the farmer community," said Mario Boivin, project director with the Societe de Cooperation pour le Developpement International (SOCODEVI), a leading organization in the development of cooperatives and one of the partners involved in the planning and implementation of the pilot programs. "These pilot programs give us an opportunity to make a real difference in how farmers grow, harvest and market their cocoa - and in doing so will improve their livelihood."

All of the pilot programs will be implemented immediately, throughout West Africa.

The pilot programs support and complement efforts under the International Protocol to ensure that cocoa is grown without abusive child or forced labour.

Recent Protocol milestones include:

• The establishment of a joint foundation, The International Cocoa Initiative - Working Towards Responsible Labour Standards for Cocoa Growing, by the industry in partnership with organized labour and non-government organizations (NGOs).
• The completion of an unprecedented, independent survey of several thousand cocoa farms by the IITA to gain a better understanding of cocoa farming labour practices in West Africa, the extent of possibly abusive labour practices and the underlying causes.

Background
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) has served as the premiere trade group for manufacturers and distributors of cocoa and chocolate products in the United States since 1923. The association was founded to fund and administer research, promote chocolate to the general public and serve as an advocate of the industry before Congress and government agencies. CMA's mission is to serve as the voice of the American chocolate industry and through research, education and public information, works to ensure a continued supply of cocoa and consumption of high value and quality chocolate products for the American people.