The firm that owns Cadbury is facing allegations that children are being used to harvest cocoa on its farms.
An investigation into the cocoa farms that supply Cadbury’s parent company has captured footage of child labour in West Africa, where children as young as 10 handle sharp machetes with no protective clothing.
U.K. ‘s Channel 4 aired an investigation that found children as young as 10 working at a cocoa farm in Ghana in sweltering heat, wielding sharp knives and working for up to nine hours a day.
The children use 3 foot long machetes to clear hard weeds and crack cocoa pods, then carry the heavy loads for miles across farmland. Many receive serious injuries and risk snake bites while employed under dangerous conditions without any protective clothing, the investigation found.
The cocoa farmers are paid less than $3.30 per day and say they cannot afford to hire adult workers, forcing many of them to use their children, reporter Antony Barnett told the Sun.
The practices were linked directly to Mondelez International, Cadbury’s parent company, which also has operations in Canada. Cadbury is England’s biggest chocolate company and, according to Cadbury World, makes about 500 million creme eggs a year, a popular Easter treat in North America.
Mondelez made $5.4bn in profits globally, according to its latest financial results. Its website states: “We believe the work of children is education and play. No amount of child labour in the cocoa supply chain should be acceptable.”
National Post
