Tulane University has published the study, “Survey Research on Child Labor in West African Cocoa Growing Areas 2013/2014“, which aims to measure and assess whether the number of children working in the cocoa sector since 2008/2009 has increased.

The report says that 2.6 million children worked in 2013/2014 in cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, 21% more than in 2008/2009. It also states that 2.3 million (18% more than in the previous period) did so in dangerous conditions. However, the report differentiates between the Ivory Coast, where the percentage of children who were exposed to conditions of a certain danger (heavy loads, sharp tools, night work …) grew by 46%, while in Ghana it declined by 6%. A difference which may also be a result of the amount of cocoa production in each area, since the Ivory Coast is the world’s largest cocoa producer, reaching 1.5 tons in 2013/2014, while Ghana produced 0.9 tons in the same season.

One of the positive pieces of information from the report is the access to education for children working in cocoa production in both countries: 71% in the Ivory Coast, where in 2008/2009 it was only 59%, and 96% in Ghana (91% in 2008/2009).