"Ghana, Ivory Coast cocoa floor price seen as small step toward ending child labour", 14 June 2019

Ghana and Ivory Coast's move this week to set a minimum price for cocoa beans could help reduce child labour, though it will not be enough on its own, advocates said on Friday.

The two West African countries, which together supply about 65 percent of the world's cocoa, proposed a floor price of $2,600 per tonne in an effort to improve the livelihoods of poor family farmers who produce for major chocolate companies...

...About 1.6 million children are estimated to work in cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana, some for their parents and some trafficked from other countries, according to a 2018 report by the Walk Free Foundation.

Poverty is a root cause, leaving many cocoa farmers unable to hire adult workers, said the anti-slavery organisation...

Setting a minimum price will make a difference only if it is part of a broader strategy to help farming communities, said Matthias Lange, ICI programme and policy director.