Child labour in the cocoa sector has been one of the topical issues and a development concern in recent times. To this end, the current study in 4 communities in 2 cocoa growing districts in Central and Eastern regions of Ghana sought to understand cocoa farmer’s knowledge, the rationale, and the perceived effects of child labour.

The findings reveal that farmers were generally aware and understand child labour. However, their knowledge on some specific provisions were limited, especially in respect of the minimum age for children’s engagement in farming activities. This points to the need to educate cocoa farming communities about the specific provisions of the age for engaging children and also deepen their understanding of the child labour laws.

Cocoa farmers see the involvement of children in farming as a form of training /apprenticeship and mentoring, as means to enhance farm succession. Therefore, appropriate apprenticeship interventions should be rolled out to introduce children to cocoa farming in a way that will keep their interest in farming, whiles at the same time not going against child labour laws.

It is important to harmonize and strengthen existing child labour monitoring and remediation systems implemented by different actors in the cocoa sector with the view to engaging farmers to desist from sending children to work on coca farms.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.sendwestafrica.org/nu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Child-Labour-Knowledge-Rationale-and-Perceived-Effect-in-Selected-Cocoa-Growing-Communities-In-Ghana.pdf” title=”Child Labour Knowledge, Rationale and Perceived Effect in Selected Cocoa Growing Communities In Ghana”]